[Cz-biology] Species names

[Larry Sanger]

Well, it's a findability contest.  :-)  And findability is a very difficult
thing indeed.  We already have a mountain to climb, getting our articles
high in the Google rankings...though we are making headway there...

It's important for names to be

(1) precise
(2) as user-friendly as possible

I am convinced there is a way to do (2) without sacrificing (1).

--Larry

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cz-biology-bounces at mail.citizendium.org 
> [mailto:cz-biology-bounces at mail.citizendium.org] On Behalf Of 
> Kim van der Linde
> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 3:55 AM
> To: Biology Workgroup List
> Subject: Re: [Cz-biology] Species names
> 
> 
> David,
> 
> Look at for example the site of Tree-of-Life: 
> http://www.tolweb.org/ all 
> name there a re on the scientific name only, for example 
> http://www.tolweb.org/Barnardius_zonarius/91491 and there are various 
> other websites doing the same.
> 
> The scholarly consensus various per species, the fluffier the 
> more the 
> common name is used, but many many science articles use 'Drosophila' 
> (strictly speaking a genus name) synonymous for 'Drosophila 
> melanogaster', but none in their right mind would suggest to 
> do that for 
> a encyclopaedia article.
> 
> If it is all a popularity contest, that is fine, but I hope 
> to avoid that.
> 
> Kim
> 
> David Goodman wrote:
> > It's consistent all right, but  I thought we were to represent the 
> > scholarly consensus. The scholarly consensus of journal 
> editors is to 
> > do nothing of the sort., as i showed for the panda. I was unable to 
> > find one single article in one single journal in all of Biological 
> > Abstracts where the title was the way we proposed it. The 
> usages was 
> > about evenly split in article titles between Common name (scientific
> > name) and Common name only.
> > 
> > Conceivably this is an exception. I'll try some other examples.
> > 
> > David Goodman
> > 
> > On 10/25/07, Kim van der Linde <kim at kimvdlinde.com> wrote:
> >> For those who just through this medium jump in to the very 
> specific 
> >> case (Giant Panda), please see the discussion of this at 
> >> http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ_Talk:Biology_Workgroup at the 
> >> various entries. Before people based on the Giant Panda make 
> >> decisions for many species, please consider the following:
> >>
> >> 1. We have (multiple) common names for the fluffy and the 
> furry and 
> >> the beautiful stuff, but there are many many without a 
> common name: 
> >> 1a. What about those without a common name? 1b. What about 
> those with 
> >> a very uncommon used common name? 1c. What if one species 
> has two or 
> >> more common names (for example: Monk parrot (British) 
> versus Quacker 
> >> Parrot (parts of the US); Cougar or Mountain Lion or Puma)
> >> 1d. What about common names used for multiple groups (for 
> example: are
> >> the Drosophilidae or the Tethritidae the fruitflies)?
> >>
> >> 2. Each and every name can be created as a redirect to the 
> specific 
> >> page, as such, Giant Panda 
> >> (http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Giant_Panda)
> >> redirects to
> >> 
> http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ailuropoda_melanoleuca_(Giant_P
> anda) just
> >> as http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ailuropoda_melanoleuca 
> should point to
> >> 
> http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ailuropoda_melanoleuca_(Giant_P
> anda) just
> >> as Bai Xiong, Bamboo Bear, Da Xiong Mao, Hua Xiong, Mo, Pi 
> xiu, Panda
> >> and Panda Bear. As such, searching is not an issue at all, 
> and both the
> >> title as well as the first sentence makes immediately clear what is
> >> going on.
> >>
> >> Base on al this, it was proposed on the Biology workgroup 
> talkpage to 
> >> use the following solution:
> >> ----------------
> >> # Each species or higher taxon, except exceptions below, are to be 
> >> written under their official scientific name. If there is a single 
> >> established common name, that name is included in the 
> title between 
> >> parenthesis. (e.g. "''Barnardius zonarius'' (Australian 
> Ringneck)"). 
> >> # Groups that are included in the "''Latin name'' (Common name)" 
> >> system are:
> >> #* Birds ([http://www.worldbirdnames.org/names.html 
> offcial names]).
> >> #* Mammals ([http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/ the single authoritative
> >> source for mammal names]).
> >> #* Other groups to be added if a single authoritative 
> source has been
> >> established.
> >> # If a single authoritative common name is available for a 
> species (see
> >> point above), that name is to be used in the article and overrules
> >> English dialect varieties.
> >> # Subspecies and specific populations are included in the 
> article of the
> >> species, unless they warrant a full article by themselves 
> due to the
> >> amount of subspecies specific information.
> >> # All common names are created as redirects to the main 
> article. All
> >> scientific synonyms are created as redirects to the main 
> article. In
> >> case of the "''Latin name'' (Common name)" scheme, the the main
> >> scientific name is also created as a redirect.
> >> # Exceptions. The following domesticated species are 
> created under their
> >> common name, most of the time using "Domesticated " as a prefix:
> >> #* [[Human]] (''Homo sapiens sapiens'')
> >> #* [[Domesticated horse]] (''Equus ferus caballus'')
> >> #* [[Domesticated cat]] (''Felis silvestris catus'')
> >> #* [[Domesticated dog]] (''Canis lupus familiaris'')
> >> #* [[Donkey]] (''Equus asinus asinus'') or (''Equus 
> africanus assinus'')
> >> #* To be completed. (''Camelus ferus''; ''Lama guanicoe''; 
> ''Vicugna
> >> vicugna''; ''Bos primigenius''; ''Bos gaurus''; ''Bubalus 
> arnee''; ''Bos
> >> mutus''; ''Capra aegagrus''; ''Ovis orientalis''; ''Cavia aperea'';
> >> ''Mustela putorius''; ''Carassius gibelio''; ''Bombyx 
> mandarina'', etc.)
> >> ----------------------
> >> Kim
> >> --
> >> http://www.kimvdlinde.com
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> Cz-biology at mail.citizendium.org 
> >> http://mail.citizendium.org/mailman/listinfo/cz-biology
> >>
> > 
> > 
> 
> -- 
> http://www.kimvdlinde.com 
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