At 12:42 PM 2/24/99 -0600, you wrote:
 
>Linnaeus published the first edition of the Systema Naturae in 1735 at the
>age of 28. It was a booklet of 11 folio pages (folio pages are large,
>though). He kept revising it and it kept selling out, running through 16
>editions in his lifetime. But he didn't use the binominal (genus + species)
>system consistently until 1753 in his Species Plantarum (1st edition), and
>1758 in the Systema Naturae (10th edition). So 1753 is accepted as the
>starting date for most kinds of plant taxa (genera, species, etc.), and
>1758 is the starting date for animal taxa. Earlier names are ignored.
 
With one exception. Spider taxonomy dates from: Clerck, C. 1757. Aranei
suecici (Svenksa Spindler), Stockholm. [that's "Swedish Spiders" by the way]
 
It also has been suggested that Linne did not premeditate using binominal
names, grasp their impact, or shout "Eureka," but switched to using them
simply as a shortcut method. It was later workers who decided this was the
only official way to go. Sometimes being lazy does pay off.
 
 
 
 
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 G Thomas Watters
 Ohio Biological Survey &
 Aquatic Ecology Laboratory
 Ohio State University
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