Re: *Dalianraptor cuhe* and *Sinornithosaurus haoianus* (short!)

[Nick Pharris <npharris@umich.edu>]

Quoting "Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>:

> David Marjanovic (david.marjanovic@gmx.at) wrote:
>
> <The way I read Articles 32.2 and 32.3, *S. haoiana* is a "correct original
> spelling" that must, according to Article 32.3, _nevertheless_ be changed to
> *S. haoianus*.>
>
>  Perhaps understandably, David and I differ here not because of the
> interpretation of the articles given above, but because we are citing 
> different
> articles. Those that he cites simply argue that certain emendations are
> obligatory. Those that I cite argue what constitutes an incorrect original
> spelling. Neither "haoiana," "millenii", nor "changii" each relate to 
> the rules
> applied by those two conditions I listed in my last post for satisfying
> incorrect original spellings.

OK.  We're actually talking about several different problems here.  
"Millenii" is a misspelling of an actual Latin word.  Unfortunately 
(from my nit-picky point of view), I don't see much chance that this 
will be changed, as authors have been misspelling *caerule-* 'blue' as 
"coerule-" for centuries.


> So if one finds fault with "haoiana," one would need to
> show how the authors' original name satisfies the two conditions 
> under which a
> name is considered incorrect by the ICZN. Otherwise, as the rules state, the
> name stands even if incorrectly formed under rules of Latin (-ianus 
> instead of
> -iana being David's perception of the correct form).

The stem *haoian-* is perfectly well formed.  The adjective "haoiana" 
is incorrectly *declined* (i.e., it has the wrong ending attached to 
it).  Incorrect stem formation is not grounds for emendation.  
Incorrect declension (at least of adjectives) is.

--
Nick Pharris
Department of Linguistics
University of Michigan

"Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity."
    --Edwin H. Land