Taxonomic etymology – in search of inspiration

Jóźwiak, Piotr; Rewicz, Tomasz; Pabis, Krzysztof

doi:10.3897/zookeys.513.9873

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 50 publications

(51 reference statements)

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“…Entre los problemas detectados, el más importante es que como un nombre taxonómico es para siempre, hay que tener sumo cuidado en que su formulación original no contenga errores, dado que no se admiten "arrepentimientos posteriores" (cAzzAnIgA, 2010). Además, estamos de acuerdo con Jóźwiak et al (2015) en que el hecho de dedicar taxones a personas, instituciones, obras artísticas u objetos del mundo actual, situadas fuera de un contexto científico general, puede hacer a esos nombres irreconocibles a medio y largo plazo, e incluso plantear problemas éticos. Por ejemplo en el caso de una compañía, espónsor o político al que en un determinado momento se le dedica una especie, y pasado el tiempo se ve inmerso en procesos judiciales o revisionistas que determinan graves actuaciones de tipo ético o incluso penal.…”

Section: Consideraciones Finalesunclassified

“…Y las alternativas son tan imaginativas y variadas que tenemos taxones nombrados por sus características anatómicas y atributos morfológicos, por el tamaño, comportamiento, por la toponimia de los lugares de hallazgo, por la distribución altitudinal, por juegos de palabras, según dedicatorias honoríficas a seres mitológicos, personas físicas, personajes de ciencia ficción o fantasía, mascotas, objetos, compañías comerciales, chistes y divertimentos, sonoridad peculiar, etc. (ver WInston, 1999;Jóźwiak et al, 2015;heARd, 2020, entre otros).…”

Section: Introducción Y Práctica Taxonómicaunclassified

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Desenfado (e incluso humor) en la nomenclatura de taxones paleontológicos y zoológicos

Gutiérrez-Marco

2020

Boletín De La Real Sociedad Española De Historia Natural

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Resumen Se presenta una recopilación de más de un millar de taxones de nivel género o especie, de los que 486 corresponden a fósiles y 595 a organismos actuales, que fueron nombrados a partir de personajes reales o imaginarios, objetos, compañías comerciales, juegos de palabras, divertimentos sonoros o expresiones con doble significado. Entre las personas distinguidas por estos taxones destacan notablemente los artistas (músicos, actores, escritores, pintores) y, en menor medida, políticos, grandes científicos o divulgadores, así como diversos activistas. De entre los personajes u obras de ficción resaltan los derivados de ciertas obras literarias, películas o series de televisión, además de variadas mitologías propias de las diversas culturas. Los taxones que conllevan una terminología erótica o sexual más o menos explícita, también ocupan un lugar destacado en estas listas. Obviamente, el conjunto de estas excentricidades nomenclaturales, muchas de las cuales bordean el buen gusto y puntualmente rebasan las recomendaciones éticas de los códigos internacionales de nomenclatura, representan una ínfima minoría entre los casi dos millones de especies descritas hasta ahora. Abstra ct A compendium of more than a thousand genera and species, of which 486 correspond to fossils and 595 to current organisms is presented. These were named after real or imaginary characters, objects, commercial companies, puns, or double entendres. Among the people distinguished by these taxa are artists (musicians, actors, writers, painters) and, to a lesser extent, politicians, great scientists or popularizers, as well as various activists. Among fictional characters, those derived from certain literary works, movies or television series stand out, in addition to various mythologies typical of different cultures. Taxa that carry a more or less explicit erotic or sexual terminology also figure prominently in these lists. Obviously, all of these nomenclatural excentricities, many of which are on the verge of bad taste and occasionally exceed the ethical guidelines of international codes of nomenclature, only constitute a minority among the over two million species described to date.

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Section: Consideraciones Finalesunclassified

Section: Introducción Y Práctica Taxonómicaunclassified

Desenfado (e incluso humor) en la nomenclatura de taxones paleontológicos y zoológicos

Gutiérrez-Marco

2020

Boletín De La Real Sociedad Española De Historia Natural

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“…The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ( ICZN, 1999 ) gives the taxonomist no specific rules on how to name new species. Thus, unsurprisingly, many taxa have been named after famous scientists and celebrities, or mythological, biblical and pop-cultural characters ( Jóźwiak, Rewicz & Pabis, 2015 ). These homages to celebrities often attract a lot of attention from social media.…”

Section: Spider World Recordsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Record breaking achievements by spiders and the scientists who study them

Mammola

Michalik

Hebets

et al. 2017

PeerJ

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Organismal biology has been steadily losing fashion in both formal education and scientific research. Simultaneous with this is an observable decrease in the connection between humans, their environment, and the organisms with which they share the planet. Nonetheless, we propose that organismal biology can facilitate scientific observation, discovery, research, and engagement, especially when the organisms of focus are ubiquitous and charismatic animals such as spiders. Despite being often feared, spiders are mysterious and intriguing, offering a useful foundation for the effective teaching and learning of scientific concepts and processes. In order to provide an entryway for teachers and students—as well as scientists themselves—into the biology of spiders, we compiled a list of 99 record breaking achievements by spiders (the “Spider World Records”). We chose a world-record style format, as this is known to be an effective way to intrigue readers of all ages. We highlighted, for example, the largest and smallest spiders, the largest prey eaten, the fastest runners, the highest fliers, the species with the longest sperm, the most venomous species, and many more. We hope that our compilation will inspire science educators to embrace the biology of spiders as a resource that engages students in science learning. By making these achievements accessible to non-arachnologists and arachnologists alike, we suggest that they could be used: (i) by educators to draw in students for science education, (ii) to highlight gaps in current organismal knowledge, and (iii) to suggest novel avenues for future research efforts. Our contribution is not meant to be comprehensive, but aims to raise public awareness on spiders, while also providing an initial database of their record breaking achievements.

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“…The linguistic minimalism inherent in the Code means that we can be as creative as we like in forming names for bacteria: it is only our community's fusty conservatism, not the Rules, that stop us from engaging in the kind of whimsical wordplay enjoyed by Linnaeus (11), who playfully gave the blue whale the epithet musculus, meaning small mouse, or named a species of morning glory nil, which literally and metaphorically means nothing, unless one recognises a hidden link to an Indo-Iranian root meaning blue! Similar word play is alive and well in contemporary zoology, with names such as Umma gumma and Macrostyphlus frodo for insects or Ba humbugi for a snail (12,13).…”

Section: Freedom Within the Codementioning

confidence: 86%

Bacterial Nomenclature in the Era of Genomics

Pallen

2021

Preprint

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The remarkable success of taxonomic discovery, powered by culturomics, genomics and metagenomics, creates a pressing need for new bacterial names, while holding a mirror up to the slow pace of change in bacterial nomenclature. Here, I take a fresh look at bacterial nomenclature, exploring how we might create a system fit for the age of genomics, playing to the strengths of current practice, while minimising difficulties. Adoption of linguistic pragmatism, obeying the rules while treating recommendations as merely optional will make it easier to create names derived from descriptions, from people or places or even arbitrarily. Simpler protologues and a relaxed approach to recommendations will also remove much of the need for expert linguistic quality control. Automated computer-based approaches will allow names to be created en masse before they are needed, while also relieving microbiologists of the need for competence in Latin. The result will be a system that is accessible, inclusive and digital, while also fully capable of naming the unnamed millions of bacteria.

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Taxonomic etymology – in search of inspiration

Cited by 15 publications

References 50 publications

Desenfado (e incluso humor) en la nomenclatura de taxones paleontológicos y zoológicos

Desenfado (e incluso humor) en la nomenclatura de taxones paleontológicos y zoológicos

Record breaking achievements by spiders and the scientists who study them

Bacterial Nomenclature in the Era of Genomics

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