AAS Common Names Committee

People use common names or scientific names when referring to particular plants (and animals). Both naming conventions serve a purpose.

Common Names for plants and animals are used by local people. Common names may be totally different from one country to another, from one state to another, and even from one county to another. Common names change as new people move to an area, or as old common names fall out of favor for one reason or another.

Scientific Names, on the other hand, are unique plant and animal names used across the world by scientists and other professionals regardless of the language they speak or write, because scientific names are always Latin or Latinized words. They are standardized, using the same name for the same organism and are always used in published research. Scientific names cannot be changed except by international scientific agreement.

You don't have to be a scientist to use scientific names. Scientific names reduce confusion and make communication much more certain.

The Common Names Committee  is a standing committee that facilitates the development of, and standardization of, common names for Arachnids for the American Arachnological Society.

Common Names Committee

Sarah J. Rose, PhD (Chair)
The Ohio State University (former)
Currently unaffiliated
Hilliard, Ohio 43026<
srose891@~@gmail.com

Richard Bradley, PhD
Associate Professor Emeritus
Acarology Laboratory, Room 1380f
EEO Biology, 1315 Kinnear Rd
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH, 43212
bradley.10@~@osu.edu

Ray Fisher, PhD
Entomologist at Mississippi State Entomological Museum
Based in Fayetteville, Arkansas
Naturalist; systematist; mites, spiders, ants, aquatic arthropods
jrf521@~@msstate.edu

Kari J McWest, MS
West Texas A&M University (former)
REVSYS, AMNH
Amarillo, Texas 79107
iNaturalist contributor and curator
BugGuide.net contributing editor
Scorpion systematist, naturalist
kari.mcwest@~@gmail.com

Susan E. Riechert, PhD
UTK Distinguished Service  & Chancellor’s Professor
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
The University of Tennessee Knoxville 
569 Dabney Hall, 1416 Circle Dr
Knoxville, TN 37996  
riechert@~@utk.edu

Louis N. Sorkin, B.C.E.
American Museum of Natural History
Division of Invertebrate Zoology
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York, New York 10024-5192
sorkin@~@amnh.org