REQUEST FOR TAXONOMIC DATA

[Barry Richardson]

Dear Alan,
Regarding your request for data suitable for temporal analysis could I
suggest you look at the Zoological Catalogue of Australia.  This includes
all names published in particular groups related to the Australian Fauna.
To date the amphibians and reptiles, mammals, and some sections of the
mollusca, coleoptera, and hymenoptera have been published.  All junior
synonyms are included and the dates of publication have been carefully
checked from primary sources.  The data base contains several tens of
thousands of available names.  About a dozen more volumes are in
preparation.  It is available from the Australian Government Publishing
Service.

You could also contact the editor, Dr K. Houston at the Australian National
Parks and Wldlife Service, P.O. Box 636 Canberra City 2601 Australia.

Another source that may be useful is:

A.D.Chapman (1991). Australian Plant Name Index AGPS: Canberra. This
contains every name ever used for an Australian higher plant, 65,350 in
all.  Again each original reference has been seen by the author.  This
information is also available in data base form.

I have analysed, superficially some of the data in the Catalogue data
base.  The trends show a swing towards Australian workers at the turn of
the century with a steadily increasing output, followed by a sudden
reduction during and after World War I.  The effort did not really pick up
again until post WWII.  I think the loss of huge numbers of Australians
during WWI (58% ended up as casualties) destroyed the best youngsters of
their generation.

Barry Richardson
Foundation Professor of Biological Sciences
University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury