Dracunculus species NOT to get

From: "Randall M. Story" story at caltech.edu> on 2002.05.28 at 15:08:27(8904) Title: Dracunculus species NOT to get Hi, I just noticed that there is a second genus of Dracunculus--not a plant, but instead a parasitic nematode (worm)!! I had thought that generic names were unique, but after a bit of searching I found out this is indeed possible if the genera are from different kingdoms. Does anyone know how common this situation is? Are they going to fix this confusion at some point? If so, which kingdom "wins"??? The nematode Dracunculus looks like a pretty nasty beast. If you have a VERY strong stomach do a Google search (image option) for Dracunculus. If you ever run into anyone who thinks the plant is ugly or smells bad, point them that way. It's clear that hours near the plant at its smelliest would be far, far better than an encounter with one of the animal sort of Dracunculus!! Does this mean there's a beautiful flower somewhere out there named (or waiting to be named) Dermatobia? I hope this doesn't ruin anyone's dinner (although it's probably a more effective weight loss strategy than eating glucomannan (a carbohydrate derived from Amorphophallus)). Randy

From: "Eduardo Goncalves" edggon at hotmail.com> on 2002.05.28 at 19:48:16(8909) Hi Randy, Considering that Dracunculus means exactly "Small Dragon" in Latin, it is not surprising to find an animal named like this. Just to make clear, the first principle of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature is that "Botanical nomenclature is independent of zoological and bacteriological nomenclature. The Code applies equally to names of taxonomic groups treated as plants whether or not these groups were originally so treated". So, there is no problem (at least by now) to have the same generic names for plants and animals. Some people are trying to unify all nomenclatural systems...That would be a big trouble! Anyhow, if we start to think that many aroids are able to warm themselves (i.e. they have thermogenic inflorescences), many species are commonly named as "cobra-lilies", "jararaca" (Brazilian name for Bothrops snakes and Asterostigma) and some species also stink like animals (not exactly living animals) we can come to the conclusion that... oh no... MAYBE AROIDS ARE ANIMALS TOO! Best wishes, Eduardo. >From: "Randall M. Story" >Hi, > >I just noticed that there is a second genus of Dracunculus--not a plant, >but >instead a parasitic nematode (worm)!! I had thought that generic names >were >unique, but after a bit of searching I found out this is indeed possible if >the genera are from different kingdoms. Does anyone know how common this >situation is? Are they going to fix this confusion at some point? If so, >which kingdom "wins"??? > >The nematode Dracunculus looks like a pretty nasty beast. If you have a >VERY strong stomach do a Google search (image option) for Dracunculus. If >you ever run into anyone who thinks the plant is ugly or smells bad, point >them that way. It's clear that hours near the plant at its smelliest would >be far, far better than an encounter with one of the animal sort of >Dracunculus!! > >Does this mean there's a beautiful flower somewhere out there named (or >waiting to be named) Dermatobia? > >I hope this doesn't ruin anyone's dinner (although it's probably a more >effective weight loss strategy than eating glucomannan (a carbohydrate >derived from Amorphophallus)). > > >Randy Eduardo G. Goncalves +More Laboratorio de Fitoquimica Depto. de Botanica - IB Universidade de Sao Paulo Caixa Postal 11461 - CEP 05422-970 Sao Paulo - SP - BRAZIL e-mail: edggon@hotmail.com edggon@ib.usp.br Phone: 55 11 3091-7532 FAX : 55 11 3091-7547 _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com

From: StellrJ at aol.com on 2002.05.28 at 19:50:03(8910) In a message dated 05/28/2002 8:10:11 AM Pacific Daylight Time, story@caltech.edu writes: I found out this is indeed possible if the genera are from different kingdoms. Does anyone know how common this situation is? Are they going to fix this confusion at some point? If so, which kingdom "wins"??? So far as I know, they are not going to "fix" it, because zoology, botany, and mycology are considered separate disciplines. I can think of more (all non-Aroid) examples: Ficus, the fig tree, and Ficus, the marine gastropod; Oenanthe, the herb of the celery family, and Oenanthe, the wheatear bird. Jason Hernandez +More Naturalist-at-Large

From: "Randall M. Story" story at caltech.edu> on 2002.05.29 at 04:04:30(8917) Hmmm, Something tells me, Eduardo, that eventually the taxonomists will get around to grouping things within Bacteria, Eukarya and Archaea, and at a minimum keep names unique within each of these three groups. Why should Archaea and Bacteria be grouped together in terms of forbidding duplication of names, whereas within Eucarya plants and animals can have duplicate genera? Maybe I'm wrong (and this is probably a discussion that wouldn't belong on this list). Randy +More ---------- >From: "Eduardo Goncalves" >To: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L >Subject: Re: Dracunculus species NOT to get >Date: Tue, May 28, 2002, 12:48 PM > > Hi Randy, > > Considering that Dracunculus means exactly "Small Dragon" in Latin, it is > not surprising to find an animal named like this. Just to make clear, the > first principle of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature is that > "Botanical nomenclature is independent of zoological and bacteriological > nomenclature. The Code applies equally to names of taxonomic groups treated > as plants whether or not these groups were originally so treated". So, there > is no problem (at least by now) to have the same generic names for plants > and animals. Some people are trying to unify all nomenclatural > systems...That would be a big trouble! > Anyhow, if we start to think that many aroids are able to warm themselves > (i.e. they have thermogenic inflorescences), many species are commonly named > as "cobra-lilies", "jararaca" (Brazilian name for Bothrops snakes and > Asterostigma) and some species also stink like animals (not exactly living > animals) we can come to the conclusion that... oh no... MAYBE AROIDS ARE > ANIMALS TOO! > > Best wishes, > > Eduardo. >>From: "Randall M. Story" >>Hi, >> >>I just noticed that there is a second genus of Dracunculus--not a plant, >>but >>instead a parasitic nematode (worm)!! I had thought that generic names >>were >>unique, but after a bit of searching I found out this is indeed possible if >>the genera are from different kingdoms. Does anyone know how common this >>situation is? Are they going to fix this confusion at some point? If so, >>which kingdom "wins"??? >> >>The nematode Dracunculus looks like a pretty nasty beast. If you have a >>VERY strong stomach do a Google search (image option) for Dracunculus. If >>you ever run into anyone who thinks the plant is ugly or smells bad, point >>them that way. It's clear that hours near the plant at its smelliest would >>be far, far better than an encounter with one of the animal sort of >>Dracunculus!! >> >>Does this mean there's a beautiful flower somewhere out there named (or >>waiting to be named) Dermatobia? >> >>I hope this doesn't ruin anyone's dinner (although it's probably a more >>effective weight loss strategy than eating glucomannan (a carbohydrate >>derived from Amorphophallus)). >> >> >>Randy > > > > > Eduardo G. Goncalves > Laboratorio de Fitoquimica > Depto. de Botanica - IB > Universidade de Sao Paulo > Caixa Postal 11461 - CEP 05422-970 > Sao Paulo - SP - BRAZIL > e-mail: edggon@hotmail.com > edggon@ib.usp.br > Phone: 55 11 3091-7532 > FAX : 55 11 3091-7547 > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com > >

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