Butterfly Names

[Hank & Priscilla Brodkin]

"Chris J. Durden" wrote:
> 
> Hank,
>     I think the main reason for gender confusion today is the hormone
> supplements added to chicken and hog feed............
>                                       Seriously though -
>    Scientists in their education (in the United States) are no longer
> required to learn Latin. Thus they are not expected to know the rules, and
> do not recognize mismatched genders in scientific names. Even the people
> who publish the lists have little or no training in Latin, hence their
> desire to drop Latin names and use English names. Even those of us who were
> taught Latin once are now more than a little rusty.
>    This lack of knowledge of Latin presents other problems in everyday life
> - principally the decline of spelling in English which is based on far more
> Latin than we like to realize.
>    So - have your reference list checked out by a Latin scholar if you can
> find one and for heavens sake question authority!
> ............Chris Durden
> 

Chris - I did take Latin in grammer school and have followed enough 
bird taxonomy to note that changes were made in taxonomy to correct
mis-gendered species names. However I find it hard to believe that when
the original list was made with folks such as Jeff Glassberg, Paul
Opler, Brian Cassie, Guy Tudor, and Harold (did I get the first name
right?) Robbins on the committee that they would let such names get
through unless someone had a good reason.
Opler uses multicaudata (p. 44) in his new Peterson guide (Western
Butterflies in the plates area, but uses multicaudatus in the text
portion of the book - p. 141.
Tilden - Smith in the old Western guide uses multicaudatus.  Scott in
his Butterflies of North America uses multicaudata and surely he is old
enough to have taken Latin ;-)
Did someone once change the generic name of this species to Papilio from
another feminine generic name and left the species name in the
feminine?  Or is there another reason folks are not following the rules
of zoological nomenclature here.
Paul, Jeff, etc. let me know.  My curiosity is aroused.

-- 
	             Hank & Priscilla Brodkin
	          Carr Canyon, Cochise County, AZ
             SouthEast Arizona Butterfly Association
          http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabasa/home.html
         "Butterflies of Arizona - a Photographic Guide" 
    by Bob Stewart, Priscilla and Hank Brodkin - due August 2001
          http://pages.zdnet.com/hbrodkin/butterfliesofarizona/

 
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