> Maybe we should just follow Pleijel and Rouse's lead and refer to it as
> Diversicolor Müller, 1776
If uninominals ever come into vogue this antipodean is wondering how to
make readable a paper in which Platynereis australis, Chloeia australis,
and Pectinaria australis co-occur with Psammolyce antipoda, Nereis
antipoda, and Scolelepis antipoda, not to mention Prionospio
aucklandica, Lepidastheniella aucklandica, Dawbinia aucklandica, and of
course Sthenelais novaezealandiae, Panthalis novaezealandiae, and
Phylo novazealandiae. There are about twenty 'australis' epithets just in
polychaetes, let alone the rest of the marine invertebrates. Augener
described two 'aucklandica,' McIntosh described two 'neozelaniae' and,
wait for it ... at least eight 'kerguelensis.' It could be tricky doing
Kerguelen benthic ecology - Ooh, look folks, I've found another
kerguelensis McIntosh with this kergeulensis McIntosh and that
kerguelensis McIntosh. Yeah? Well I've got a kerguelensis McIntosh
here. No! Really? ... Fantastic!
OK, I'm exaggerating for effect. But the probable necessity for extra
verbiage to qualify the uninominals, and the lack of an instant recognition
factor do seem to be significant drawbacks. I haven't got the papers in
front of me but, as I recall, I was left with the impression that the day-to-
day utility of the system for ordinary biologists was somewhat
underexplained.
--
Geoff Read <gread at actrix.gen.nz>
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