Caligula could already be the female name
the ae would either be the plural form in the first declination or the
singular of the second declination (genitive) demeaning origin (of Caligula)

A better example would be say Conus tessulatus. Conus is a masculine name
and is tied with a descriptive name tessulatus (-us being the suffix in
masculine form)
If the genus was Limnaea (I would say this was feminine) the descriptive
name would be tessulata (the suffix -a being also feminine). Sometimes it is
hard for me to determine which way it should be since we have species such
as
Cyprea annulus ( species name is masculinum) and
Cyprea mauretania (species name is femininum)

I'm not sure the authors were alway sure what they were doing :)

If I'm wrong please correct me

T.
----- Original Message -----
From: Sylvia S. Edwards <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 1:49 A.M.
Subject: Attn: Latin Scholars


> Is Latin gender specific?  Such as, say Caligula, an ancient Roman Empire
> name become a female name if it were spelled Caligulae?
>
> I need to know some information on naming of shells and the Latin names.
>
> Sylvia S. Edwards
> Huntsville, Alabama
> [log in to unmask]
>