Talk:Helix aspersa

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

It was requested that this article be renamed but there was no consensus for it be moved. --Stemonitis 21:02, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Requested move

Helix aspersa → Cornu aspersum – per The Cornu problem --Eleassar ^{my talk} 11:35, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

I read the link there, and it's very interesting. It seems there are at least four names out there for this mollusk. Helix aspersa seems to be the most common in English, occuring much more frequently in Google searches (incl. Google Books and Google Scholar) than Cornu aspersum, Cryptomphalus aspersus or Cantareus aspersus. Depending on which authority you go with, the name H. aspersa has been superseded by one of the other three; nevertheless, most people are still calling it Helix. I'm inclined to leave the article where it is per WP:COMMONNAME. -GTBacchus^(talk) 01:14, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Another applicable page is Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna), which could support "Garden snail" or "Helix aspersa". -GTBacchus^(talk) 02:27, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't know how much you're acquainted with taxonomy, but I prefer to trust referenced sources rather than Google tests. It's not only about name, it's also about classification. I don't object using the title brown garden snail, but do object replacing the view of the majority of malacologists with Wikipedia conventions. Nowadays malacologists view placing brown garden snail in the genus Helix as dubious and prefer to put it in the genus Cornu or Cantareus. And according to the source, dealing specifically with this question, Cornu is more appropriate.--Eleassar ^{my talk} 12:54, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

I tried to figure out just what that source was, and as far as I can tell, it's a personal website. On what grounds do you consider it reliable? Have you looked at the search results for "Helix aspersa"? There are lots of reliable sources using the old name. I'd rather wait until there's a consensus as to whether it's called Cornu or Cantareus (or Cryptomphalus), and see a lot of people actually start using the new name. We're not supposed to take sides in taxonomic disputes; we're supposed to reflect common usage. That's part of optimizing Wikipedia for general audience readers. -GTBacchus^(talk) 16:39, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

All right, you have persuaded me. Especially as I have found some sources (forum posts like this or this) discussing the very same matter from a different standpoint. --Eleassar ^{my talk} 20:34, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.