Marusik Yu.M. 2023. ‘Epigyne’ vs. ‘epigynum’ revisited // Arthropoda Selecta. Vol.32. No.2: 229–230 [in English].
Institute for Biological Problems of the North FEB RAS, Portovaya Str. 18, Magadan 685000, Russia. E-mail: yurmar@mail.ru
doi: 10.15298/arthsel.32.2.09
ABSTRACT. A discussion is continued on what term is correct, ‘epigyne’ or ‘epigynum’, and what is a correct grammatical gender of this word. New arguments are provided in favour of the former variant. Term ‘epigyne’ was used by classics of arachnology in the texts published in Latin, and they considered this word as belonging to feminine grammatical gender. Same spelling was used in several other languages (French, German, English, Swedish). The variant ‘epigynum’ was first invented by an American author [Emerton, 1875] in an English text. Neither Emerton [1875], who considered it to be of neuter gender, nor his followers have publications written in Latin.
KEY WORDS: Aranei, Araneae, terminology, grammatical gender.