And what is in a name?

[Mark Walker]

Ron Gatrelle wrote:

<much snippage>

2) A
> transfer of organisms into a new or another genus (or species due to a
> change in rank to subspecies) occurs through new evolutionary
> understanding. This is not always agreed upon by all 
> "experts" and so more
> than one alignment may be found. However, the original 
> epithet given to the
> individual organism stays the same as it is immutable. In time all the
> adjustments (from finding and adopting the original immutable 
> epithets or
> from understanding the true evolutionary relationships) will 
> provide an
> everlasting unchanging nomenclature.

Just curious:  so what happens when an organism that is the oldest owner of
some original immutable name is later discovered to belong to another genus
with a different immutable name.  Is the old name now associated with the
next-oldest organism currently associated with that name?  Or can this be
justification for renaming the remaining organisms in this line?  What if
there is an older name originally assigned to the second-oldest organism -
one that was discarded when it was determined that it should be associated
with the former?

Sorry.  I'm just enjoying the complexity of it all as I prepare to relax
some specimens whose name I'm not even sure of, but whose beauty I am sure
of.

Mark Walker
Oceanside, CA
> 

 
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