Message 2004-08-0010: Re: Intercode homonyms (was Re: Registration)

Sun, 29 Aug 2004 10:28:26 -0700 (PDT)

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Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 10:28:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: "T. Michael Keesey" <mightyodinn@yahoo.com>
To: david.marjanovic@gmx.at, Mailing List - PhyloCode <phylocode@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu>
Subject: Re: Intercode homonyms (was Re: Registration)

--- David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at> wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "T. Michael Keesey" <mightyodinn@yahoo.com>
> Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2004 11:52 PM
> 
> > One possibility I'll throw out there is to suggest adding prefixes to the
> > younger names: perhaps "Phyto-" if covered by the ICBN, "Zoo-" if covered
> > by the ICZN, and "Monero-" if covered by the BC. Thus the animal _Gastonia_
> > could be converted as Zoogastonia, etc. Perhaps this is unnecessary, but it
> > seems to me it would help speed up and smoothen out the conversion process.
> 
> Yes. But in a few cases, I'd suggest looking at the meaning of the word.
> *Ficus*, a genus of trees as well as of clams, is such a case: the Latin
> word means "fig", and the clams are probably named after looking like figs.
> I'd say that the name should stay with the trees regardless of priority (I
> don't know which has priority).

No issue, in this case: _Ficus_ Linnaeus (the fig) predates _Ficus_ Röding 1798
(the gastropod [not clam]). (Although the generic name of the gastropod is the
same as Linnaeus' trivial epithet for it.)

Regardless, though, I'd be really wary of recommending that etymology should
dictate taxonomy -- that's a sticky area.

> However, this is only an issue for names that will actually get converted.
> Perhaps one of the two *Ficus* will turn out to be so paraphyletic that
> conversion would be disruptive to nomenclature; in that case it'll just drop
> out of the problem.

Good point. That would be nice -- I have no idea....

=====
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