Re: The Papers That Ate Cincinnati

["T. Michael Keesey" <keesey@gmail.com>]

On 5/5/07, Anthony Docimo <keenir@hotmail.com> wrote:
> everyone knows what a
> Tyrannosaurus is, what the name means,

Do they? Under the ICZN, the only thing that's defined about the name
_Tyrannosaurus_ is that it must include the individual represented by
CM 9380, the holotype specimen. That's it. People have variously used
the name to refer to just _T. rex_ or to both _T. rex_ and _T.
bataar_, and Greg Paul even included _T. torosus_ (the type species of
_Daspletosaurus_).

> and what it's relations to other animals are.

That is outside the scope of nomenclature.

> I'd love to know what happens when an animal gets placed and named in
> PhyloCode, only to then be relocated to another place and name.  :D
> (ie, how many times has the Hoatzin (as one example) been tossed from one
> group of birds to another?)

Nothing happens, unlike the ICZN. Names are tied to definitions--that's it.
--
Mike Keesey