Hi
I am working on a spreadsheet that correlates the latest IOC 3e list (with subspecies) to the relevant pages in the HBW volumes – should have it finished in a week or so if anyone wants a copy.
Anyway – I have found that a subspecies of Common Eider is listed as *Somateria mollissima v-nigrum* which is confusing me as I thought all components were “simple” words – my software certainly did not expect a hyphen in the middle of a component. It is also listed (as *v-nigra*) on the Avibase system. Anyone have an explanation for this?
Thanks
Dave ===============================
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We have a moth in the UK called L-album Wainscot, Mythimna l-album and a butterfly White-letter Hairstreak Satyrium w-album so I guess this kind of name is not uncommon.
Rosemary
No, in this case the gender of the colour depends on the “thing” that it describes. In this case, we are not talking about a black duck (somateria in this case) but about a black v. So, if ‘v’ is neutal in Latin (which I believe is correct) then it should be nigrum, if ‘v’ was female then it should be nigra, if ‘v’ was male then it should be niger. So in this case the gender of the colour should be independent of the gender of the genus name.
Nikolas
usually hyphens are not accepted in scientific names of animals but exceptions are made in exactly such cases as this (e.g. v-nigrum, c-album, etc) where a single letter is used to describe a visual character of the creature followed by (usually) a colour. In this case it does indeed mean a black V-shaped marking. I personally don’t like hyphens in scientific names, but that’s the way the ICZN works, and Somateria mollisima v-nigrum is a valid name (v-nigrum has priority over v-nigra, and the v is neuter so the name is a noun and does not change to v-nigra to agree with Somateria [i.e. according to the Code’s rules nigrum agrees in gender with the v not with the genus]).
________________________________ Cc: “birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au” Sent: Sunday, 22 January 2012 5:35 PM
‘I dout that ‘v-nigrum’ (meaning black V) would be a valid subspecific name under the zoological nomenclature code. Perhaps the v indicates that nigrum is the name of the variety rather than a subspecies. Varietly is a category lower than subspecies which is used frequently in botany but not usually in zoology. an antiquated name perhaps?
David James, in Jakarta burunglaut07@yahoo.com ==============================
________________________________ Cc: birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au Sent: Sunday, 22 January 2012 10:56 AM
Thanks Andrew – that makes sense and advances my knowledge. Will now allow for such forms in my software.
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Dave,
I have had a bit more of a dredge on the web and found that Somateria mollissima v-nigrum is not alone in using an initial letter then hyphen. I have found two moths, Xestia c-nigrum and Arctornis l-nigrum and a frog, Eleutherodactylus w-nigrum. Seems that it is an accepted method of describing a black, letter like marking in a specific epithet and I presume sub-sp.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
Hi
I am working on a spreadsheet that correlates the latest IOC 3e list (with subspecies) to the relevant pages in the HBW volumes – should have it finished in a week or so if anyone wants a copy.
Anyway – I have found that a subspecies of Common Eider is listed as *Somateria mollissima v-nigrum* which is confusing me as I thought all components were “simple” words – my software certainly did not expect a hyphen in the middle of a component. It is also listed (as *v-nigra*) on the Avibase system. Anyone have an explanation for this?
Thanks
Dave ===============================
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First use was by Bonaparte in 1855.
Carl Clifford
‘I dout that ‘v-nigrum’ (meaning black V) would be a valid subspecific name under the zoological nomenclature code. Perhaps the v indicates that nigrum is the name of the variety rather than a subspecies. Varietly is a category lower than subspecies which is used frequently in botany but not usually in zoology. an antiquated name perhaps?
David James, in Jakarta burunglaut07@yahoo.com ==============================
________________________________ Cc: birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au Sent: Sunday, 22 January 2012 10:56 AM
Thanks Andrew – that makes sense and advances my knowledge. Will now allow for such forms in my software.
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Well the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature seems to think that c-album (as in /Polygonia c/-/album /: a species of butterfly. In this case it is known that the insect was named specifically for a white patch in the shape of the letter c. This is given as a specific example by the ICZN) is acceptable as a species name, so I would think that v-nigrum (or v-nigra) would be acceptable as a sub-species name.
Secondly one of the rules of the ICSN states that if a species has been given a name consisting of two or more words in the original description then the words should be joined either by simply eliminating the gap or by the use of a hyphen. If the hyphen was given in the original description then it should be retained.
In the present case the ‘v’ could of course represent another possible physical characteristic. However given that nigra is derived from the latin word for the colour ‘black’ I would think that it is reasonable to suggest that it was named for a black ‘v’ pattern in its feathers.
By the way, whether it is v-nigrum or v-nigra depends upon the Genus name. In general the species name is never changed once it has been conferred. However the gender of the ending must agree with the gender of the genus name. If the species is transferred to a different genus then the ending should be changed to make the genders of the genus and species (and presumably sub-species) names agree. (I don’t know how this impacts the specific case of the duck species in question)
http://iczn.org/content/code-relationship-257
Cheers
Andrew
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‘I dout that ‘v-nigrum’ (meaning black V) would be a valid subspecific name under the zoological nomenclature code. Perhaps the v indicates that nigrum is the name of the variety rather than a subspecies. Varietly is a category lower than subspecies which is used frequently in botany but not usually in zoology. an antiquated name perhaps?
David James, in Jakarta burunglaut07@yahoo.com ==============================
________________________________ Cc: birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au Sent: Sunday, 22 January 2012 10:56 AM
Thanks Andrew – that makes sense and advances my knowledge. Will now allow for such forms in my software.
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Dave,
I have just done a web dredge using DEVONagent and come up with a large number of hits on S. m. v-nigrum Unfortunately, none with an explanation of the ssp. name. Perhaps if you contacted someone from the Sea Duck Joint Venture http://www.seaduckjv.org/contacts.pdf they may be able to shed some light on the matter.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
Hi
I am working on a spreadsheet that correlates the latest IOC 3e list (with subspecies) to the relevant pages in the HBW volumes – should have it finished in a week or so if anyone wants a copy.
Anyway – I have found that a subspecies of Common Eider is listed as *Somateria mollissima v-nigrum* which is confusing me as I thought all components were “simple” words – my software certainly did not expect a hyphen in the middle of a component. It is also listed (as *v-nigra*) on the Avibase system. Anyone have an explanation for this?
Thanks
Dave ===============================
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Thanks Andrew – that makes sense and advances my knowledge. Will now allow for such forms in my software.
===============================
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I suspect that the v-nigra stands for a black V shape visible in the feather pattern; see
http://iczn.org/content/what-correct-original-spelling
However hyphens in species/subspecies names are not unusual; see
http://iczn.org/content/code-relationship-2831
http://iczn.org/content/code-relationship-170
Cheers
Andrew
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