>Occasionally an author will misread the rules and name a new
>species with Greek generic and specific names, and if it gets past the
>editors and reviewers (not too difficult, these days), then the name is
>published and we're stuck with it.
 
There is no rule prohibiting non-Latin names. The ICZN says "A name may be a
Latin or latinized word" and "A name may be a word in another language that
uses the Latin alphabet, or be formed from such a word, whether the ending
of the name is one used in Latin or not." The example given is the genus
_Pfrille_, which is a German word for minnow, and a perfectly acceptable
genus name.
 
If I wanted to name a species Conus rogermaris, instead of Conus
rogermarisi, there is no rule to prevent it.  (Roger Maris was a great
American baseball player.)
 
Gary
 
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Gary Rosenberg, Ph.D.                     [log in to unmask]
Malacology & Invertebrate Paleontology    gopher://erato.acnatsci.org
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