[Odonata-l] common name changes

[Dennis Paulson]

Hello, all.

The Common Names Committee of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas  
has been responsible for the list of common names of North American  
(Canada/US) Odonata since about a decade ago when the names were  
first made "official" by the society.

We have always been concerned with stability of the names, but we  
have recommended changes in a small percentage of them when we  
realized, and then agreed, that a particular name was really quite  
inappropriate for the species to which it had been applied. We  
thought it would be better to make these decisions early in the  
history of the names rather than leaving some future committee to  
deal with them. Of course we have also coined names for newly  
described species and those newly recorded in our geographic area, as  
well as made decisions about names for species split or lumped.

It was recently called to my attention that it would be a courtesy  
for the committee to make known our recommendations as quickly as  
possible for those people writing books or other treatises on Odonata  
that involved the use of these common names. With early enough  
notice, names could be changed in book manuscripts so the book  
wouldn't be "out of date" when published. We have usually considered  
the name change official when published in ARGIA, the DSA newsletter,  
but in consideration of the authors out there, we will from now on  
disseminate these changes on listserves as soon as the committee has  
established them.

Thus I am informing you of three name changes by the committee. These  
will be published in the next ARGIA.

Stripe-winged Baskettail, Epitheca costalis, is now to be called  
Slender Baskettail.
Ski-tailed Emerald, Somatochlora elongata, is now to be called Ski- 
tipped Emerald.
Faded Pennant, Celithemis ornata, is now to be called Ornate Pennant.

Sorry for the multiple posting, but it's your fault for being on so  
many listserves!
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net

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