Fwd: Re: Deja Vue

[Chris J. Durden]

>Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 10:08:23 -0600
>To: mbpi at juno.com
>From: "Chris J. Durden" <drdn at mail.utexas.edu>
>Subject: Re:  Deja Vue
>
>    I agree. Common names (for insects) are nicknames that facilitate 
> informal conversation. Like nicknames for people they tend to be 
> unreliable and regional and should have no legal or scientific standing 
> for serious communication. They enrich the language with synonyms and 
> have been part of our culture. There is no governmental regulation of 
> common names. The only thing that comes close is the Dept. of Agriculture 
> list of insects of economic importance. There is no professional society 
> regulation of common names either. There is an attempt by NABA to 
> regulate common names of butterflies by influence of and by their 
> membership. There is a resistance to acceptance of the new-coined NABA 
> names by the professional entomological community. Professional 
> entomologists and most older amateur entomologists do use some common 
> names, but these  names are the traditional ones, and where there is none 
> the scientific species name is used instead.
>    To the professional entomologist, NABA appears to be the tail trying 
> to wag the dog, and we resent these efforts to destabilize our names.
>    The biggest embarrassment in the United States is that our Federal and 
> some state listings of endangered species are done by common name rather 
> than by scientific name. Now where is the expertise or legal clarity in 
> this practice?
>....................Chris Durden
>
>At 08:15 AM 2/25/2002 -0600, you wrote:
>>I am intrigued by the fact that after nearly two years of being
>>subscribed to this listserv, the same discussions that have been hashed
>>(and rehashed) over the course of time, keep cropping up as if they had
>>never been discussed before (!)  And what's more:  the same people keep
>>bringing the same topics up...over and over and over again.  Sometimes, I
>>wonder if you aren't all "in denial" [:-))
>>
>>That observation aside, I would like to put in my two-cents worth on the
>>recurrent thread of "common names vs. scientific names," and divert the
>>discussion from Lepidoptera to Coleoptera, since that is what I'm
>>currently involved with.
>>
>>I don't think that anyone refutes the necessity of scientific names as a
>>basis for standardization in the describing and naming of species.
>>Nevertheless, after sorting hundreds of Paleoarctic Coleoptera...spanning
>>a 30+ years collection...discrepancies abound!  Even the spelling of
>>scientific names is questionable, depending on the collector (!)  And the
>>changes that occur in the generic names over the course of time are hard
>>to determine, much less verify, without a good, "up-to-date"
>>reference...which in the case of beetles...is pratically an impossibility
>>unless one has the time to unearth all the documentation as new criteria
>>evolves.  In other words:  It can't be done by one individual...which is
>>why scientists dedicate themselves to one particular group.  Who has the
>>time or resources for it all?!
>>
>>As for "common names:"  understandably, in the case of beetles, it is
>>practically pointless. It has no relevance to the "layman" who will never
>>be able to determine what he doesn't know even "exists."  Common names
>>only have relevance to organisms that are "obvious" in their
>>conspicuousness, behavior, status, environmental impact, etc.  That makes
>>sense to me!  Sort of like giving "nicknames" to individuals with
>>outstanding "characteristics."  A perfectly natural human condition, if
>>you ask me.
>>
>>M.B. Prondzinski
>>________________________________________________________________
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