RE: Names, professional courtesy, and more

[chris brochu <christopher-brochu@uiowa.edu>]

>Perhaps we encourage the use of the informal specimen names people
>already use: "Sue," "Big Al," or whatever.  I understand the hominid
>people do that.  It allows very extensive discussion in the community
>without scooping anyone's right to name and describe.
>


In the above cases, these are specimens of already-known taxa, and it would
be more appropriate to use specimen numbers (e.g., Sue = FMNH PR2081).

One problem with using names like "Sue" is that it can lead to incorrect
assumptions.  "Sue" is a female name, but we simply cannot tell whether
this was a female T. rex or not. It's an "it," not a "she."  Hence, I would
rather see the practice of using "nicknames" avoided wherever possible.


chris

------------------------
Christopher A. Brochu
Assistant Professor
Department of Geoscience
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242

christopher-brochu@uiowa.edu
319-353-1808 phone
319-335-1821 fax