parentheses in scientific names

["Peter Menkhorst" <>]

Russ
put simply, a name and date is given in parentheses to indicate that the genus 
name is not the original one applied when the species was first described. For 
example, Linnaeus described several species of gull in 1758 and put them all in 
the genus Larus. Mew Gull still remains in that genus, hence no parentheses, 
but Larus, as conceived by Linnaeus has been split into several genera. 
Laughing Gull, to chose just one, is now in the genus Leucophaeus and 
consequently Linnaeus' name is given in parentheses. This convention is 
intended to help taxonomists and others trace back to the original description 
should they need to.

Peter Menkhorst
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

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