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Date: | Tue, 14 Sep 2004 10:45:27 -0400 |
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I have collected many Crepidula convexa here, and have never seen anything
that looked like nodulose ribs, even faint ones. Maybe I never looked close
enough. I'll have to stick a few specimens under the scope. I have always
considered it a smooth species though.
The pronunciation of "Crepidula" is governed by what is often called "the
antepenultimate rule", which states that [Latin] words of more than three
syllables are pronounced with the emphasis on the third-from-last syllable.
(last syllable = ultimate; next to last = penultimate; third from last =
antepenultimate). Crep-ID-u-la, Thatch-ER-i-a, Gyr-IN-e-um, Cusp-id-AR-i-a,
Struth-i-o-LAR-i-a.
Unfortunately this gets a bit complicated in pronouncing genus names because
many genus names are not actually single Latin nouns, but compound words
comprised of two or more nouns, or a noun and an adjective. For example,
"Trigonostoma" is a combination of "trigono" (triangular) and "stoma"
(mouth). "Stoma" is a two syllable Latin noun, and as such is pronounced
with the emphasis on the first syllable - "STO-ma". Adding a modifier
doesn't change the pronunciation of the noun. Therefore, Tri-gon-o-STO-ma
would be correct. Many collectors automatically but incorrectly apply the
antepenultimate rule here and say "Tri-gon-OS-to-ma".
So you have to have a sense of the derivation of the word in order to
determine the correct pronunciation.
Paul M.
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