Taxonomic Swap 61471 (Submetido em 22-08-2019)

Because Paradoxurus is a masculine genus, the epithet should correctly be displayed as musangus, as adopted by the cited authors.

How many species of Paradoxurus civet... (Citação)
Adicionado(s) por bobby23 em 22 de agosto de 2019, 02:37 PM | Committed by bobby23 on 22 de agosto de 2019
replaced with

Comentários

The original name was Viverra musanga, from the Malay word for the animal, musang (https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/754982#page/281/mode/1up). I think that makes musanga a noun in apposition rather than an adjective, which would mean it doesn't change gender when the genus changes (https://code.iczn.org/formation-and-treatment-of-names/article-31-species-group-names)
Do you know if that's true @jakob?

Publicado por jwidness mais de 4 anos antes

It sounds as if it should be handled like that - a noun in apposition - and in that case maintain the original spelling irrespective of the current combination. Generally, I would stick to whatever the mammal taxonomy is that we're currently using, and not follow the primary literature.

Publicado por jakob mais de 4 anos antes

When I initially split Paradoxurus hermaphroditus sensu lato (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxon_changes/61386), I retained the epithet musanga indiscriminately because that was what the MDD had used on their taxon page (https://mammaldiversity.org/species-account.php?genus=paradoxurus&species=musanga). However, as pointed out by @leptonia, they cite Veron et al. (2014) as the source for the species name, which adopts a different epithet (musangus). Because there was no explanation as to why the epithet is different between the cited literature and the taxon page under "Taxon Notes", I had assumed this was in error. However, from what you describe, it seems likely it was changed to follow Article 31.

Would it be preferred that we retain P. musanga over P. musangus?

Publicado por bobby23 mais de 4 anos antes

Yeah, it seems pretty clear that Veron et al. changed it to musangus in error. You can even see the musanga epithet correctly used with the Paradoxurus genus in MSW3: https://www.departments.bucknell.edu/biology/resources/msw3/browse.asp?id=14000333.

Publicado por jwidness mais de 4 anos antes
Publicado por bobby23 mais de 4 anos antes

Thanks!

Publicado por jwidness mais de 4 anos antes

@jwidness @jakob @nateupham

@bdagley has raised the issue again in this flag, and following his suggesting, I reached out to Dr. Geraldine Veron (the lead author of the literature cited by the MDD for Paradoxurus musanga). She responded with the following:

"I asked confirmation to Annemarie Ohler, expert in taxonomy and in the Code. In the original description (https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/754982#page/281/mode/1up) Raffles named it "MUSANG BULAN" in Malay, and by using Viverra musanga, he seems to be making musang an adjective (so: "musangus, musanga, musangum" which must be declined). Thus we think it should be Paradoxurus musangus."
(French is Dr. Veron's first language, not English, so please excuse any minor errors.)

When I Googled her, I found that Dr. Annemarie Ohler seems to be a member of the International Committee of Zoologic Nomenclature or has at least contributes to it. Since Dr. Veron is the lead author of the literature that is being cited by the MDD, and Dr. Ohler agrees that it should be in agreement with the genus its attached to, then it seems that P. musangus should take priority over P. musanga because, though derived from the local noun "musang", Dr. Ohler's interpretation is that it Raffles' adapted it as an adjective.

Would a swap back to P. musangus be appropriate here, or should we contact the MDD first?

Publicado por bobby23 mais de 2 anos antes

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