Date:         Wed, 19 Apr 2000 16:37:24 -0400
Reply-To:     Conchologists of America List <CONCH-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sender:       Conchologists of America List <CONCH-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         David Campbell <bivalve@EMAIL.UNC.EDU>
Subject:      Where have all the good names gone...
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I believe Oedipus was proposed for salamanders but is now considered a
synonym, thus ruining puns with species names like rex and complex.

Among mollusks, Gloria is a junior objective synonym of Slava, a
mid-Paleozoic cryptodont bivalve.  Barrande renamed it using a Latin rather
than Slavic (possibly Czech, but I am not sure) root, thinking that the
latter was nomenclaturally invalid.

Tuba, on the other hand, was used for some other phylum, making Tuba in the
Mathildidae invalid.  I rather liked the idea of a snail tuba to go with
conch trumpets.

One promising name that was considered but not used was Caecum findum.
Perhaps someone out there can discover another new species in the genus for
this name.  Keep looking at your microshells and if you seek 'em, you may
find 'em.


Dr. David Campbell
"Old Seashells"
Department of Geological Sciences
CB 3315 Mitchell Hall
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill NC 27599-3315 USA
bivalve@email.unc.edu, 919-962-0685, FAX 919-966-4519

"He had discovered an unknown bivalve, forming a new genus"-E. A. Poe, The
Gold Bug