User:Figaro/Archive2



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official common names
There is only one source for official common names, Mammal Species of the World, 3rd ed. MSW3 calls it the Ebony Glider. What the government of Australia decides to call it does not matter - that's a local name. - UtherSRG (talk) 14:08, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

To wit:"Unlike previous editions, we have provided a common name for each recognized species. The starting point for these names is Wilson and Cole (2000), but each author was encouraged to examine those names and to provide a different one if there was a good reason to do so. Thus, this list can be viewed as a second edition of Wilson and Cole (2000) There are no urles governing vernacular names, but Wilson and Cole (2000) outlined several reasons for adopting a single name for each species of mammal." - UtherSRG (talk) 14:27, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

MSW3 is publisihed by Smithsonian, and the section on marsupials was written by Colin Groves. - UtherSRG (talk)

Contact Groves, too. I'm interested in hearing both sides of the argument. - UtherSRG (talk) 15:43, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

I've just fired off an email to Groves. Would you like a copy? You can email me. - UtherSRG (talk) 15:32, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

If you email me, then I can forward it to you. Or if you don't want to email me, I can paste the text here. - UtherSRG (talk) 15:58, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Dr. Groves,

My colleagues and I are using the recently publish Mammal Species of the World, 3rd ed., to update the articles on marsupials on Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsupial ). I note that you have changed some of the common names, and wonder what the rationale was for these changes. In particular, the three differences listed below are the ones I find most interesting.


 * 1) Dusky Caenolestid vs Silky Caenolestid (Caenolestes fuliginosus) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusky_Shrew_Opossum
 * 2) Slender-tailed Dunnart vs Common Dunnart (Sminthopsis murina) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender-tailed_Dunnart
 * 3) Ebony Glider vs Mahogany Glider ( Petaurus gracilis) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahogany_Glider

Any information you can provide on these or other changes would be most appreciated.

Sincerely,

Stacey Greenstein

Mahogany is correct
1. Dusky Caenolestid vs Silky Caenolestid (Caenolestes fuliginosus) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusky_Shrew_Opossum

This one was not me – I think Ron Pine wrote the South American marsupials.

2. Slender-tailed Dunnart vs Common Dunnart (Sminthopsis murina) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender-tailed_Dunnart 3. Ebony Glider vs Mahogany Glider ( Petaurus gracilis) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahogany_Glider

‘Slender-tailed’ was recommended by the editors, on the recommendation of the Common Names Committee. I have to confess that this was not the case for ‘Ebony’, and I cannot now remember where it came from. I’m sorry about this, and I will try to find out where I got it from. Thanks for pointing this out.

Cheers

Colin Groves