Horse Family Name Challenge

[Harry Pristis]

I asked this question in another thread, a fossil news thread that's not getting enough hits to get a broad measure of opinions. I will post it again here in a different form to give more subscribers a chance to weigh in.

The question is about horses, the widely-studied and reasonably well-understood Family EQUIDAE in two named Subfamilies, ANCHITHERIINAE and EQUINAE.

The largest of those subfamilies is Subfamily EQUINAE. Within the EQUINAE are several tribes, the named ones being Tribe HIPPARIONINI, Tribe PROTOHIPPINI, and Tribe EQUINI. All modern horses belong to the Tribe EQUINI being assigned to the Genus Equus.

In talking (and writing) about these taxa, there are some obvious shortcuts to providing the exact taxonomic status every time the taxon is mentioned. For example, a horse of the Subfamily ANCHITHERIINAE is an "anchithere."

The challenge here is fill in the missing shorthand term which appropriately describes an individual of each taxon.

Family EQUIDAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . equid

...Subfamily ANCHITHERINAE . . . . . . . . . anchithere

...Subfamily EQUINAE . . . . . . . . . . . . "___________"

......Tribe HIPPARIONINI . . . . . . . . . . hipparionine

......Tribe PROTOHIPPINI . . . . . . . . . . protohippine

......Tribe EQUINI . . . . . . . . . . . . . "___________"

.........Genus

Equuus

. . . . . . . . . . . "___________"

I suggest you copy and paste this list, with your answers, to a response.

Feel free to disagree with my shorthand terms. "Mr. Ed" and "Ol' Dobbin" are already used and will win no approbrium. Best answers will win a Golden Kudo.

[siteseer]

I asked this question in another thread, a fossil news thread that's not getting enough hits to get a broad measure of opinions. I will post it again here in a different form to give more subscribers a chance to weigh in.

The question is about horses, the widely-studied and reasonably well-understood Family EQUIDAE in two named Subfamilies, ANCHITHERIINAE and EQUINAE.

The largest of those subfamilies is Subfamily EQUINAE. Within the EQUINAE are several tribes, the named ones being Tribe HIPPARIONINI, Tribe PROTOHIPPINI, and Tribe EQUINI. All modern horses belong to the Tribe EQUINI being assigned to the Genus Equus.

In talking (and writing) about these taxa, there are some obvious shortcuts to providing the exact taxonomic status every time the taxon is mentioned. For example, a horse of the Subfamily ANCHITHERIINAE is an "anchithere."

The challenge here is fill in the missing shorthand term which appropriately describes an individual of each taxon.

Family EQUIDAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . equid

...Subfamily ANCHITHERINAE . . . . . . . . . anchithere

...Subfamily EQUINAE . . . . . . . . . . . . "___________"

......Tribe HIPPARIONINI . . . . . . . . . . hipparionine

......Tribe PROTOHIPPINI . . . . . . . . . . protohippine

......Tribe EQUINI . . . . . . . . . . . . . "___________"

.........Genus

Equuus

. . . . . . . . . . . "___________"

I suggest you copy and paste this list, with your answers, to a response.

Feel free to disagree with my shorthand terms. "Mr. Ed" and "Ol' Dobbin" are already used and will win no approbrium. Best answers will win a Golden Kudo.

Harry,

I'll take a shot. The shorthand for a member of the Equinae might be an equinin and the one for a member of the Equini might be an equine (or equinine)? I don't know what a shorter version of Equus would be unless that is "equine." You don't hear much about cohorts, subfamilies, and tribes on the Science Channel. In fact, I'm trying to think of a time I saw a show about nomenclature. They decorate it with dinosaurs and giant rhinos to keep the kids interested.

[tracer]

the wordsmithing exercise has nothing to do with "shorthand" or "correctness". as people wish to classify everything ad infinitum to wrap their brains precisely around their constructed concepts, they also find it necessary to shoehorn anybody else's classifications into their standards of reference. forcing data sets into incongruous systems in this manner more or less ensures tortured and errant application, but at any rate, it's how scientists spend their time, and doesn't seem to have abated since video games appeared, which surprises me. but hey, i guess being "on task" is admirable, and getting to name stuff is definitely sexy.

dropping the "ae" on latin plurals simply gives the singular. it isn't a shortcut - it is a means of referring to one animal rather than the whole group. with the other latin taxonomical names, it seems as if the need of some to speak english as mastery of latin amongst the "scientific" community waned may have resulted in some conveniences taken with spellings, and therefore pronunciations, along the same lines as what has happened to foreign name spellings, like mine. conversions from latin adjectival and plural endings got anglicized when necessary.

for me, a horse by any other name is still an equid, and the equine equids of equus are included.

but i guess if one wishes to name things "correctly", one should memorize this reference - link

[Harry Pristis]

('siteseer' writes)

Harry,

I'll take a shot. The shorthand for a member of the Equinae might be an equinin and the one for a member of the Equini might be an equine (or equinine)? I don't know what a shorter version of Equus would be unless that is "equine." You don't hear much about cohorts, subfamilies, and tribes on the Science Channel. In fact, I'm trying to think of a time I saw a show about nomenclature. They decorate it with dinosaurs and giant rhinos to keep the kids interested.

Okaaay! Now we're getting somewhere! 'Siteseer' finds it reasonable to fill in the missing names thus:

Family EQUIDAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . equid

...Subfamily ANCHITHERINAE . . . . . . . . . anchithere

...Subfamily EQUINAE . . . . . . . . . . . . " equinin "

......Tribe HIPPARIONINI . . . . . . . . . . hipparionine

......Tribe PROTOHIPPINI . . . . . . . . . . protohippine

......Tribe EQUINI . . . . . . . . . . . . . " equine or equinine "

.........Genus Equuus . . . . . . . . . . . " equine "

These seem reasonable to me, also; but, there is that one contradiction or overlap that 'siteseer' allows. Who else has some ideas to contribute?