Re: [TAXACOM] Digest for taxacom@googlegroups.com - 6 updates in 2 topics

[Jan Wieringa]

Concerning Pseudoon:

When the gender is not determined, the choice is for the first who needs it. A recommendation is to keep gender the same for the species in this genus. Since the current genus is female, it would be good practice to use Pseudoon as feminine, and hence set the gender.

Best greetings,

Jan Wieringa

Op vr 17 jul 2026, 03:20 schreef <tax...@googlegroups.com>:

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• Gender of genus Pseudoon - 5 Updates
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Gender of genus Pseudoon

David Campbell <pleur...@gmail.com>: Jul 16 01:07PM -0400 Simpson (1900) named Pseudoon without an etymology, as a subgenus. He used an umlaut on the second o, suggesting that the final -on is added to pseudo-. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32021246#page/659/mode/1up   Searching online suggests that -on is likely to be a Greek masculine ending, but nothing more definite is turning up so far. Any insights?   -- Dr. David Campbell Professor, Geology Department of Natural Sciences 110 S Main St, Campus Box #7270 Gardner-Webb University Boiling Springs NC 28017

Richard Littauer <richard....@gmail.com>: Jul 17 06:23AM +1200 I would argue that the gender of this subgenus is indeterminate. I would suggest using whatever has been general practice for now, and making a Case to the commission about it. If you want a general hand-wave gender to use, I think the best bet is masculine.   The original incorrect spelling is *Pseudoön*. Under 32.5.2.1, the diaresis is deleted, as this word is clearly not German in origin. I don't see any way that this mark could be considered an umlaut; it's clearly not Germanic (or any other language except Greek). It's much more likely (in my mind) to have been used as a term to show that ön is a separate word and pronunciation from the first ending -o. I can't think of any other instances where an ending is applied with a diaresis like this. This makes *ön *likely to be a word in its own right, and it's likely to be either *ὤν* <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%BD%A4%CE%BD#Ancient_Greek> (masculine) or ὄν <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%BD%84%CE%BD#Ancient_Greek> (neuter), participles meaning 'being'. I can't find instances in dictionaries of these being substantivized, but it really doesn't matter much - they're valid Greek words, and they won't change ending as they're generic and not specific. Both of these Greek words could be transliterated as *on* into the Latin alphabet. There's no clauses in Article 30 that say what to do if a final word is Greek and can be interpreted as either masculine or neuter - it does mention "common" or "variable", but then limits that to masculine or feminine, which is unhelpful here. The language has to be interpreted as Latin or Greek under Article 26, so Article 30.2 can never apply, which would say that anything ending in *-on* is neuter.   The spirit of Article 30.1 is that names which are unclear default to masculine. I don't like using the spirit of the law as a reason for clarifying gender, at all, but that's probably the easiest route if you need a short answer. If people have been treating it as neuter, use that.   Article 78.2.2 mentions that sometimes the Code requires authors to refer to the Commission for how to interpret a particular case. I think this would be a good candidate for that. It's a very easy Case to make and shouldn't take Commissioners a bunch of time to work through, as it doesn't have a ton of cruft for Commissions to read through to understand the issue.   R       -- Richard Littauer | burntfen.com <http://www.burntfen.com> | socials: richard.social

David Campbell <pleur...@gmail.com>: Jul 16 03:08PM -0400 Thank you. No prevailing usage exists; it's a subjective synonym but molecular data suggest that it may be useful after all.   On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 2:23 PM Richard Littauer <richard....@gmail.com> wrote:     -- Dr. David Campbell Professor, Geology Department of Natural Sciences 110 S Main St, Campus Box #7270 Gardner-Webb University Boiling Springs NC 28017

Laurent Raty <l.r...@skynet.be>: Jul 17 12:10AM +0200 I'd make this ψευδ-, false- + ᾠόν, egg, cf. "Shell elliptical, inflated, solid, that of the males slightly pointed at the upper posterior part". Therefore neuter.   The same diaeresis was formerly used in English in words derived from ᾠόν - e.g., "oölogy".   Laurent -     On 7/16/26 19:07, David Campbell wrote:

Richard Littauer <richard....@gmail.com>: Jul 17 10:16AM +1200 Ah. Yes, that makes more sense! Neuter is a better fit.   Laurent: what do you think about ᾠόν being transliterated without the iota? Shouldn't this be oion in the Roman alphabet? Some dictionaries mention that this is occasionally written without the small iota, so I think it still works for the Code, but it is awkward.   R   On Fri, Jul 17, 2026 at 10:10 AM 'Laurent Raty' via Taxacom <   -- Richard Littauer | burntfen.com <http://www.burntfen.com> | socials: richard.social

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BHL User survey

Roderic D. M. Page <rdm...@gmail.com>: Jul 16 03:18PM As part of modernising the Biodiversity Heritage Library website BHL have created a short user survey https://bit.ly/4fpc75D. This is an opportunity to let BHL know what future features are most important to you.   Regards,   Rod   Sent from Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>

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[Doug Yanega]

The provisions in the Code regarding gender agreement are not subject to prevailing usage. If Pseudoon has been treated as feminine, then that was an error, and must be corrected. The name is neuter, as has already been discussed. I have reviewed over 380,000 genus-rank names in the past few years, and sometimes even the original author misgendered the name they coined - and such errors must be corrected. The Code explicitly states that a genus-rank name that is or ends in a Greek or Latin word takes the gender given in the dictionary; the gender assigned by the author is generally not relevant at all, unless the dictionary allows for multiple genders.

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[Francisco Welter-Schultes]

Jan,
This would be the botanical solution. Under the botanical Code ICNafp
Art. 62.1 a name takes the gender applied to it traditionally by the
botanists. The solution of the present case would be easy: Just keep the
gender feminine, and retain all the feminine endings of the
species-group names in this genus.

In zoology, as Doug correctly explained, this simple solution would not
be Code compliant. Once it is discovered that the gender has been
misapplied by all authors from the beginning on, no matter since how
long ago and no matter how many species-group names are affected, all
feminine endings of all species-group names must be changed to obtain a
different ending.
The only way to avoid this would be to apply to the Commission for a
ruling to retain the feminine gender - and as long as the Case is under
consideration, the current usage would have to be maintained.

The Code does however not regulate what happens if it is a name that is
not contained in a dictionary, and knowledge of Latin and Greek grammar
is needed to extract a Greek or Latin origin of compound names, and if
several solutions are possible.

Best wishes
Francisco

Am 17.07.2026 um 19:17 schrieb Jan Wieringa:
> Concerning Pseudoon:
> When the gender is not determined, the choice is for the first who needs
> it. A recommendation is to keep gender the same for the species in this
> genus. Since the current genus is female, it would be good practice to use
> Pseudoon as feminine, and hence set the gender.
> Best greetings,
> Jan Wieringa
>
>
> Op vr 17 jul 2026, 03:20 schreef <tax...@googlegroups.com>:
>
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>> Roderic D. M. Page <rdm...@gmail.com>: Jul 16 03:18PM
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>> As part of modernising the Biodiversity Heritage Library website BHL have
>> created a short user survey https://bit.ly/4fpc75D. This is an
>> opportunity to let BHL know what future features are most important to you.
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>> Regards,
>>
>> Rod
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>> Sent from Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>

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