multicaudata ( try IV )

[Chris J. Durden]

There is a simple solution to this problem. Assume multiple endings and 
search only for *multicaud*. I do this as a matter of course, at no 
inconvenience. I know taxonomy is a faithful old dog, but don't let the 
machine wag the dog! Chop the ending - use the root, for a search.
................Chris Durden

At 09:15 AM 4/2/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>Michael Gochfeld wrote:
>
> >On the other hand, it's not likely that anyone has been confused
> >about which taxon was being referred to regardless of the spelling.
>
>Then you've never tried to use a database of species names. There aren't
>many pieces of software that, when asked to find "multicaudata" will inform
>you that it's spelled "multicaudatus" in the database and give you the
>correct record. It will simply inform you that the name is not in the
>database. THAT is confusing. For those of us concerned with automated
>taxonomic information retrieval systems, alterations in species epithets
>are MASSIVE obstructions to efficiency. Using the original spelling in
>perpetuity is by far a better system - from this perspective. Apparently
>the only cataloguer who felt this way was Poole, who lists only original
>spellings in the Nomina Insecta Nearctica (and this is, of course,
>confusing).
>
>Peace,
>
>
>Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
>Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
>phone: (909) 787-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
>            http://entmuseum9.ucr.edu/staff/yanega.html
>   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
>         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
>
>
>
>
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