Posted by:
RSNewton
at Fri Sep 26 11:19:18 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by RSNewton ]
No matter their origin (Greek, Latin, English etc.), all scientific names are latinized. That is why scientific names are also referred to as Latin names. Scientific names have genders, since they are Latin words. For example, when L. M. Klauber named one of the Rosy boas after his own wife Grace, the latinized form of the name becomes gracia.
If a species is transferred from a genus with a feminine gender to one with a masculine gender or vice versa, the specific name has to be changed to match the gender of the new genus. This is a major source of taxonomic instability and one of the many reasons why unnecessary taxonomic changes (e.g. correcting past grammatical mistakes of long established names; dogmatic intolerance of paraphyletic taxa) should be discouraged.
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