-Us and -Um...

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Adhlc

Adhlc

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Sep 1, 2007
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Raleigh, NC
I've noticed that there are many species names that can end in either -us or -um, while neither seem to be the right or wrong spelling/pronunciation. A few examples off the top of my head would be Synspilus/Synspilum, Trimaculatus/Trimaculatum, and Zonatus/Zonatum.

What I'm wondering is if there is one over the other that should be used, or if one is simply meant to be the plural form of the species.
 
FishingOut;4349494; said:
-us masculine
-um feminine
-se Neutral
Im not sure how true this holds. Latin is crazy.
Click to expand...


So would it be correct to refer to a female Trimac as a Trimaculatum while referring to a male as Trimaculatus?
 
the male/female endings are for the gender of the actual word not the individual fish, its the same concept like with spanish where different nouns are assigned different genders. but as far as fish go i think your more on track with the singular/plural thing, -us being singular and -um being plural but i think they are pretty much interchangeable, it may also just be from different naming practices, some people used the masculine ending and some the neutral ending so now either can be used but i dont think it really matters which you use but it has been awhile since i've had to study classification in one of my biology classes so im not positive (and haven't taken latin in a few years either lol)
 
I think Sarah nailed it. Some words are fem some are masc In Italian Uva (grape) is fem while Vino (wine) is masc. Also some words change gender depemding on how or what they are used with in a sentance. L'uva e molto buona, Il vino e molto buono. In this case Trimaculatum or Trimaculatis is interchangable since we are not speaking vulgar latin it matters little both are acceptable.
 
It's about time my Latin minor comes handy. For all intensive purposes, Sarah nailed it and go with that. You could get picky with it I suppose, but -us and -um are interchangeable in classification. I cannot recall anything in the number of biology courses I've taken that said anything too specific on the matter.
 
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