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27. Juni 2020, 14:01

Camponotus ligniperda

Seifert, 2019: Two Latin spellings of the ant which Latreille had also named in French “fourmi rongé-bois” have been in use by various authors over the last 60 years: Camponotus ligniperda and C. ligniperdus. This disparity causes confusion (but is in reality not a very important issue because it does not lead to confusion with other Camponotus species). The latter spelling assumes that “ligniperda” is a female adjective attached to the female noun Formica and has to change its ending to “-us” when the species is transferred to the masculine genus Camponotus. The other spelling assumes that Latreille used “ligniperda” as a noun in apposition, which remains unchanged in combination with a genus name of any gender (§ 31.2.1. and § 31.2.2. of ICZN). This interpretation as a noun (meaning “wood destroyer”) was clearly expressed by Kutter (1977) and I consistently followed this usage throughout the last 40 years. Indirect conclusions on Latreille’s naming intention, considering the vernacular compound word “rongé-bois”, appear problematic as I received different proposals by native French speakers. The deciding point in this debate is that “ligniperda” is no accidental linguistic fault—this word really exists as a Latin noun and Pierre André Latreille, as a Latin-educated catholic priest, and Heinrich Kutter, as an old-school pharmacist educated in the 1920s, should have known this. To have this view confirmed, I asked the distinguished Latin expert Prof. Thomas Baier from the Institute of Classical Philology of the University of Würzburg. He fully concurred. This is what he wrote in a letter of 15 July 2013: “.... assessing your problem according to the rules of classical Latin, ligniperda would be a noun, which always is written ligniperda in connection with masculine and feminine, thus not being adapted in its suffix—just as you have assumed. A parallel form is parricida (murderer of relatives). Johann von Schwaben, who killed his uncle Albrecht von Schwaben around 1300, is known since then in the history books (and in Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell) as “Johannes parricida”. What applies to Swabian dukes also applies to ants, si parva licet componere magnis...”.