[Cz-biology] Species names

Fri Oct 26 12:13:01 CDT 2007

Ok, could you draft a policy on this on the Biology workgroup page!

Kim

John R Moffett wrote:
> Hello Biologists,
> 
> I think we are making too large an issue of this. Of course there are
> multiple common names, and I see no reason why we can't employ one of the
> most often used as the main title (Giant Panda, Fruit Fly, Tomato plant)
> followed by the scientific name, with a list of other common names from
> around the world. All terms would link to the same page. If closely related
> subspecies exist, we have them listed as well.
> 
> 1. Primary common name
> 	a. scientific name
> 		b. other common names (and countries of usage)
> 			c. subspecies 
> 				d. location in phylogenetic tree
> 
> 
> I just don't see that a large number of articles are going to be written any
> time soon which cover species without common names in detail. And of course,
> if someone were to write an article on Escherichia coli, the article will
> need to have that title (with E. coli as a common abbreviation). No problems
> there. See here: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/E._coli 
> 
> I think that the major consensus here is that we should strive to use the
> most often used common name, if one is available, followed immediately by
> the scientific name in parentheses, followed by a list of alternate common
> names. This would be totally non-ambiguous, and would give lots of detail in
> providing alternate common names. Often, people don't know that there are
> multiple common names, so providing them would be useful to many readers.
> 
> Best,
> 
> John M.
> Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
> Bethesda Maryland
> 
> 
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cz-biology-bounces at voltaire.citizendium.org
> [mailto:cz-biology-bounces at voltaire.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_Panda) 
>>> just as http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ailuropoda_melanoleuca should 
>>> point to
>>> http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ailuropoda_melanoleuca_(Giant_Panda) 
>>> 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
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Cz-biology mailing list
>>> Cz-biology at mail.citizendium.org
>>> http://mail.citizendium.org/mailman/listinfo/cz-biology
>>>
>>
> 
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