Steve and Wanda,
 
Trigonostoma is a compound word: trigono(triangular) and
stoma(Greek:mouth), and it was chosen for that genus for obvious reasons.
If it were pronounced Tri go NOS to ma,it would lose all sense of meaning.
One could pronounce it as Lynn suggested, keepinging each individual stress
(Tri GO no STO ma) or, better yet,keep the original stress of the keyword
and pronounce it Tri go no STO ma. That goes for all compound words that
end in "stoma" such as CallioSTOma. However, as Lynn suggested, if in
doubt, stress the second to last syllable, most of the time it works. I say
StomaTElla,not sTOmatella.
 
Emilio
 
>"Tri go NOS to ma"  or maybe  "Tri GON os to ma" or maybe ?????  Are there
>generally accepted guidelines for pronunciation?
>
>I often find that when I pronounce shell names in "Texan" people tend to
>look at me with a quizzical look.  Just wondering...
>
>Steven
>Texas
 
Emilio F. Garcia
115 Oak Crest Dr.
Lafayette, LA 70503
USA