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Type: Correspondence
Published: 2014-05-06
Page range: 299–300
Abstract views: 33
PDF downloaded: 16

‘Googleology’ revisited: an additional tool for preventing zoological homonymy

Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (formerly the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research), National University of Singapore, 6 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117546, Republic of Singapore.
Tropical Marine Science Institute and Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (formerly the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research), National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge, Singapore 119260, Republic of Singapore.
Reptilia

Abstract

Homonyms at the genus-group level in zoological nomenclature are not just “embarrassing for an author to discover or be told that his proposed name is preoccupied, but for all concerned it is a nuisance and an expense to make the corrections required” (Oehser 1935: 962). Names at the genus-group level are also the most “abundant source of homonyms” (Patterson et al. 2009: 688). Most preoccupied names will require a published article of at least half a page to replace them, and can lead to acrimonious debates in scientific literature, especially if this is done by data-miners who are not specialists of the groups (see Krell 2009: 274).