Scientific Name Changes

[Lennie Collins]

I have been in the hobby for about 3 years now and was curious why some tarantulas "scientic names" all of a sudden just change? For example Grammostola Aureostraita was changed to Grammostola Pulchripes. What does "pulchripes" translate into anyways? Who decides why the name should be changed? If any name as well as genus should be change...it is Nhandu Chromatus. it does not look like any of the other Nhandus. Thank all who has any answers for this!

 

[Tapahtyn]

wow I didn't know this about the G aureostraita. Now I'm going to get confused. He just molted, so now what am I going to tell him? That he's really not the spider he thought he was NO, really, how many others have they changed?

 

[Paramite]

I have been in the hobby for about 3 years now and was curious why some tarantulas "scientic names" all of a sudden just change? For example Grammostola Aureostraita was changed to Grammostola Pulchripes. What does "pulchripes" translate into anyways? Who decides why the name should be changed? If any name as well as genus should be change...it is Nhandu Chromatus. it does not look like any of the other Nhandus. Thank all who has any answers for this!

Sometimes species get labeled wrong in the hobby. If that's the case, it definitely needs to be corrected. Sometimes, the tarantula was put under a wrong genus in the first place etc...

 

[equuskat]

First of all, I hate to nitpick, but the second name doesn't get capitalized. Grammostola pulchripes.

As for taxonomy, it's an ever-evolving science. Some spiders have been given two different names from two different researchers which causes confusion. In this instance, one name is a "junior synonym", which requires a correction, usually reverting back to the name that was assigned first. As methods of identification improve, sometimes a color form or something will be revealed as an entirely different species, but within the same genus. Other times, a species was put in the wrong genus in the first place, and needs to be renamed completely.

In order for a species to be named, a paper is written and reviewed by the scientific community. I'm not really sure how this process works, but the papers undergo some scrutiny before publication. I'm not really sure who is in charge of updating the World Spider Catalog, but I am sure that could easily be looked up.

 

[Lennie Collins]

wow I didn't know this about the G aureostraita. Now I'm going to get confused. He just molted, so now what am I going to tell him? That he's really not the spider he thought he was NO, really, how many others have they changed?

I know Nhandu chromatus was I believe Lasiodora Crista (I could be wrong on the spelling!) and Grammostola Rosea was called something else.

 

[equuskat]

G. rosea has had several names.

 

[Paramite]

Actually, L. cristata still exists, but it's not in the hobby. If I remember correctly, N. chromatus was just believed to be cristata, so the name hasn't really changed.

 

[Lennie Collins]

First of all, I hate to nitpick, but the second name doesn't get capitalized. Grammostola pulcheripes.

I won't either...it's then Grammostola pulchripes.

 

[Lennie Collins]

G. rosea has had several names.

That is what I am getting at and don't understand. Pick one name and stay with it!

 

[Paramite]

Pick one name and stay with it!

Nope. If it's later known that the species actually belongs to a complete different genus, it NEEDS to be changed.

 

[Lennie Collins]

Nope. If it's later known that the species actually belongs to a complete different genus, it NEEDS to be changed.

Should it not be gotten right the first time?

 

[Paramite]

Should it not be gotten right the first time?

Yeah, but people make mistakes. There's no way around it.

 

[equuskat]

There have been advances in ways to identify what belongs where. Many spiders were classified a long time ago, and those names to not apply because so much has been discovered since then. It's not really that the initial naming was a "mistake", but more that not enough was known at the time in order to place that species correctly.

If names were stuck to like religion, then they would be misclassified and outdated as science progressed.

 

[Lennie Collins]

Yeah, but people make mistakes. There's no way around it.

I agree with you on that BUT what is the difference between Grammostola aureostriata, which means golden stripes in latin, and Grammostola pulchripes? Does any one know what pulchripes means in latin?

 

[equuskat]

First of all, I hate to nitpick, but the second name doesn't get capitalized. Grammostola pulcheripes.

I won't either...it's then Grammostola pulchripes.

I made a TYPO because I just woke up early. At least I wasn't consistently writing scientific names incorrectly.

 

[Paramite]

I agree with you on that BUT what is the difference between Grammostola aureostriata, which means golden stripes in latin, and Grammostola pulchripes? Does any one know what pulchripes means in latin?

Pulchripes means something like pretty, beautiful or something like that.

Anyway, scientific names can be pretty much anything from a name to an adjective.

Edit: Not very imaginative, if you ask me... I wonder how many animals are labeled like pulchra, pulchripes, pulcher etc... lol

 

[equuskat]

I agree with you on that BUT what is the difference between Grammostola aureostriata, which means golden stripes in latin, and Grammostola pulchripes? Does any one know what pulchripes means in latin?

Thing is though, these were NOT MISTAKES. The names were correct at the time. Then more was learned.

Scientific names do not have to have a Latin meaning. They can denote location, the name of a person, a color, etc. This is why the term is "scientific name" and not "Latin name".

 

[Lennie Collins]

I made a TYPO because I just woke up early. At least I wasn't consistently writing scientific names incorrectly.

At least I wasn't consistently spelling scientific names incorrectly!

 

[equuskat]

At least I wasn't consistently spelling scientific names incorrectly!

Um, since when is ONCE consistent?

I mean, every scientific name on your profile is incorrectly capitalized. That's very consistent!

 

[Paramite]

Please, let's stay on topic...