Scientific names

[pressld2]

Do these change very often? I normally use the AA Book of British Birds to look up scientific names but my copy is now 30 years old and I've noticed that the RSPB web site occassionally has different names. E.g. the AA has Sula bassana for the Gannet while the RSPB has Morus bassanus, or there's the Red-backed Shrike which the RSPB calls Lanius collurio but the AA refers to as Lanius cristatus.

When uploading photos I shall stick with the RSPB as I'm sure it's more accurate than my dusty old tome, but can anyone tell me why the names change and is it a frequent occurrence?

Thanks!

Dave P.

[thunder]

Originally Posted by pressld2

When uploading photos I shall stick with the RSPB as I'm sure it's more accurate than my dusty old tome, but can anyone tell me why the names change and is it a frequent occurrence?

Thanks!

Dave P.

Names change because people's opinions on how different species are related change. For example, the tits in Britain have been revised in the last couple of years and are no longer mainly in the genus Parus. This is because of studies using DNA, I believe. There is another thread about this somewhere.

The frequency of change depends on how much work is being done on a particular group, and how 'right' the original namers were. As far as I know Common Daisy, Bellis perennis, has had that name for ages, but that's not to say that some bright young university student might not rename it tomorrow!

Five or six years ago I had to revise a computer check list of marine algae - it took me about four months to iron out all the changes that had occurred in around fifteen years - some species had turned out to be just a juvenile form of something entirely different, some species weren't algae at all! Talk about a challenge!

thunder/henrya

[nightshade]

Greetings thunder welcome back

[Paul mabbott]

As HenryT says ( ) there have been long threads on this topic before. It isn't that frequent but seems to be more common amongst those taxa that are most studied - birds and butterflies!
In some cases there are historical reasons (someone named the species earlier &c) and sometimes sound scientific reasons (Poecilus has been split off from Pterostichus (these are ground beetle genera ... ) because they are clearly very distinct from each other.
On the other hand, almost all European birds and butterflies now seem to have a whole genus much to themselves which rather undermines the whole species concept .... Bring back Parus, I say! Yes, you're right to go with the RSPB listings which, presumably, are derived from those of the BTO ....