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Re: TLAs

I would welcome someone making the effort to bring the list of suggested 
abbreviations for killie genera up to date. In my opinion, whoever does it 
should take into account precedence of use. For example, Nothobranchius has 
been abbreviated to N. for many years. This could be kept as is and others, 
such as Nematolebias assigned a distinctive abbreviation. Others may 
disagree and argue that we should eliminate ambiguous abbreviations 
altogether. That doesn't overcome the problem of the many instances of use 
already in the literature.

Given the decisions that need to be made, I would suggest that some 
volunteer compile the list and submit it to the BOT for discussion and the 
stamp of AKA approval. You could also submit it on this list for discussion 
and a proposed list could be published in the BNL.

Barry

At 07:49 PM 1/26/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Hey, Joe,
>
>I wouldn't dream of touching the TLAs if only because there are so many of
>them, and I don't much care for their use.  No, I was thinking about the
>list of abbreviations at the aka site for genera, like Fp. for
>fundulopanchax, N. for nothos, Cyno. for Cynolebias,etc.  Mostly there are
>some new genera like Chromaphyosemion, Scriptaphyosemion, Nematolebias,
>Simpsonichthys, etc, that don't have abbreviations listed there.  We sort
>of started kicking around ideas but didn't get to far.  I think we should
>have abbreviations that are unambiguous.  For example, N. for notho should
>go (unless it's clear from context) but should be Nth.  or Noth. so that
>it's clear that its *not* Nematolebias being referred to.  Similarly, C.
>for cynolebias, R for Rivulus (Does Rachovia still exist?),  and perhaps A.
>for Aphyosemion should go since * A. karpawilsoni * could be an Aphanius,
>Aplocheilus, Aplocheilichtys, etc. if you didn't already know.  This is
>just a thought, really, but probably the best method is just to wing it and
>it'll either be clear from context or confusion will ensue.  Trying to
>establish a set of abbreviations is like most standard setting excercises
>completely futile, regardless of how much sense or how much benefit there
>might be from having one.
>
>Doug
>
> >Doug,
> >If you mean you'll compile a list of three letter codes already in use,
> >fine.  If you mean that you are going to compile and fill in the missing
> >blanks, I would only caution you that you may be destined to cause more
> >confusion than clarification.  Scheel has a list of codes in his book.  To
> >my knowledge this was the begining of the three letter codes.  Then about
> >3-4 years ago as Richard Sexton was working on his photos of killies he made
> >up codes for those species that were not in Scheel's list.  About the same
> >time and since, some study groups have taken to assigning codes to species
> >in their field of study that were named after Scheel.  This further points
> >out the folly of using TLAs.  There is no central authority that can modify
> >and keep up to date on changes.  Perhaps it would be best for all of us to
> >join Wright's "Stomp out TLAs" Club.
> >
> >Joe Weber
> >
> >Be nice to your kids.
> >They are going to choose your nursing home.
> >
> >>It would at least be good if we had an updated set of generic
> >>abbreviations, to speed up "Fundulopanchax" or "Scriptaphyosemion"  I'll
> >>get right on it  :-)  Then I'll post them and you guys can pick it apart
> >>then.
> >>
> >
> >_________________________________________________________________
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> >---------------
> >See http://www.aka.org/AKA/subkillietalk.html to unsubscribe
>
>
>Doug Karpa-Wilson
>Department of Biology
>Indiana University
>Jordan Hall
>1001 E. 3rd St.
>Bloomington, IN 47405
>
>
>---------------
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