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Although there is a Latin noun cauda (feminine, meaning tail) there is no Latin adjective 'caudus' (the original spelling used, as Ablepharus lineoocellatus ruficaudus). If treated as a compound noun, there is no basis in the zoological 'Code' (ICZN, 1999) to emend it to rufiicauda, even though that would arguably have been a better choice for a noun formulation. If treated as adjectival (although the argument for doing so seems deeply flawed; there is no such adjective in Latin or Greek, as the adjectival form would have been caudatus/-a/-um), it must agree with the current (feminine?) genus, resulting in the formulation Morethia ruficauda (not M. ruficaudata). After review of the original description and comments on this issue (ICZN Listserve, May 2022), this epithet appears to be a noun, and indeclinable, and it must retain its original spelling. However, it seems nobody has yet used the apparently correct formulation of Morethia ruficaudus in the literature |
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