Oak Timberworm - Arrenodes minutus

well....

ITIS cites Poole & Gentili as their source for the spelling "minuta" - as a rule, thats a mistake, as they didn't follow the ICZN with respect to the gender endings - they only list the original spelling. For purposes of nomenclature, the ending [nodes] is pertinent - Latin: nodus, nodi (2nd declension masculine noun) "knot". See article and my comments at the bottom.

… Phillip Harpootlian, 30 May, 2006 - 5:14pm

Already back to minutes

I had second thoughts after making this comment and changing the guide page--returning to minutes, which agrees with the gender of the genus name, uhh, I think. (I took quite a bit of Latin, but it is rusty! All I seem to remember is how to decline hic: hic, haec, hoc, huius, huius, huius, hunc, hac, hoc, or something like that.)

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

… Cotinis, 30 May, 2006 - 9:46pm

Arrhenodes minutus

All of this discussion caused me to check the more recent and authoritative references (NOT ITIS [unless a specialist did the group], NOT Poole & Gentili [most groups not authoritatively checked]), and the correct name seems to be A. minutus (fide the chapter in American Beetles by Bob Anderson & Dave Kissinger; also referring to the treatment of the small families of the Curculionoidea by Don Bright). A. minutes seems to be a misspelling, though I had been ineffectually wondering if it was in the neuter gender of a genus with a Greek root.

If whomever is in charge of editing the names for this group could change the name to "minutus", future generations would be forever grateful.

… Donald S. Chandler, 6 June, 2006 - 12:48pm

minutus done in a minute

I changed the species name spelling, and there is a reference to this discussion in the guide page.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

… Cotinis, 6 June, 2006 - 2:00pm

Thanks

Nice to be efficient.

… Donald S. Chandler, 6 June, 2006 - 7:35pm