Gender does not equal sex (was Re: other rexes)

[Tom Holtz <tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov>]

>Look at the way the Queen of England signs her name....last time I looked
>it was "Elizabeth Rex".

Are you certain about that?  Might it not be Elizabeth Regina?  Besides
which, Bakker et al.s comments in the Edmarka paper notwithstanding, they
way a monarch signs her name doesn't have much to do with taxonomic
nomenclature!

>So gender does not have much to do with generic
>titles.

But gender DOES have to do with generic (and specific) names!  The ICZN
requires (except in a few cases) that the trivial nomen matches the generic
nomen in gender and case.  That's why it should be Acanthopholis horrida
(since the gender of the word "Acanthopholis" is feminine), and not "A.
horridus", like it is almost always used (this taxonomic tidbit courtesy of
Ben Creisler!).

>If sex of a specific species of dinosaur can be determined...like
>say, a Tyrannosaurus named "Sue"...then we mould have to label the beast
>Tyrannosaurus regina!

No, we wouldn't!  As countless teachers of Latin, Greek, German, French,
and so forth, have said over the years, the gender of a word or name does
not always reflect the sex of the object at hand.  "Humerus" is a masculine
word, "tibia" is a feminine word, and "acetabulum" is a neuter word,
regardless of the sex of the animal whose skeleton is discussed.
Similarly, "Maiasaura" is a feminine word, "Tyrannosaurus" is a masculine
word, and "Stegoceras" is a neuter word, regardless of the fact that there
were male individuals of Maiasaura, females of Tyrannosaurus, and males and
females of Stegoceras.

Hope this helps,

                                
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.                                   
tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov
Vertebrate Paleontologist in Exile                  Phone:      703-648-5280
U.S. Geological Survey                                FAX:      703-648-5420
Branch of Paleontology & Stratigraphy
MS 970 National Center
Reston, VA  22092
U.S.A.