Thanks Tom, great explanation. Although my personal opinion is that new shells should be named as
different as possible if in the same family to avoid future confusions. I understand that in the
past communication was much more difficult and shells could be named equally due to the lack of
information. Nowadays whoever name shells should take the proper care to avoid these confusions and
make our lives simpler...

Marcus



Hey Marcus,

As I understand things, the simplistic answer is, yes.  A species name is
defined as binominal unit; the genus and species names combined.  Thus two
species in different genera can have the same "specific" part of the name.
An example would be Clithon chlorostomus (Sowerby, 1833) and Nerita
chlorostoma Lamarck, 1816, both are in the family Neritidae, but because
they are in different genera, they can have the same "specific" name (with
different endings to match the gender of the genus).  When individual
species are reassigned into different genera, the situation becomes a bit
more complex (and I welcome any corrections if I get this wrong).  If Nerita
chlorostoma was later proved to be a Trochus and moved to that genus, it
would still block the later use of the name Nerita chlorostoma by the
principle of homonymy, even though the original species had been moved to a
different family.  Similarly, if Clithon chlorostomus (Sowerby, 1833) was
later determined to more properly belong in the genus Nerita, then it would
be a junior synonym to the more senior Lamarck (1816) name and thus
unavailable (or whatever the correct taxonomic term is for a junior
synonym).  It would need a new name (probably available in the many synonyms
it has).  In fact, Sowerby described his species originally as Neritina
chlorostoma, thus preventing the use of that name today, even though his
species is now in the genus Clithon.  Once again, this points to the often
mentioned critical need to research a species to the original author.

Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA


No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.472 / Virus Database: 269.8.17/850 - Release Date: 15/6/2007 11:31

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------