Re: -oidea in Genus Names

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/15/02 12:50:31 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
qilongia@yahoo.com writes:

<< That rule was applied after the name was coined. They should have thought
 about that a long time ago. You cannot make a rule to change a name that
 existed before the rule, and expect the name to conform. The Code is not
 retroactive. >>

Right. So what's the problem? You can still create generic names that end in 
-oidea, -idae, and so on.

Incidentally, to learn something of the vagaries of the ICZN and how it came 
into existence, I highly recommend Bock's 1994 account of avian family-name 
systematics (AMNH Bulletin something or other). Parts of it are utterly 
hilarious. Warning: This one is strictly for nomenclature nuts like me. It 
inspires me to add a history of nonavian dinosaur family-level names to The 
Dinosaur Catalogue somewhere, maybe the intro.