[CRUST-L:298] Subspecies

[John Holsinger]

BUZ at mail.usyd.edu.au on 11/10/99 02:43:29 PM

Please respond to BUZ at mail.usyd.edu.au
















Dear CrustLers,

Taxacom is having a big discussion on subspecies, and most opinion suggests
that we should avoid using this category when data on geographic variation
or genetics are limited.  Some groups of isopods still receive subspecies
names, but I believe a simple binomen would be more effective.  Could
someone in CrustLand who has named a subspecies recently like to explain
why they used the trinomen?

Cheers,

Buz Wilson

**********************************
Dear Buz,

Although I recognized subspecies twice in the past for two widely distributed
subterranean freshwater amphipods, I have had second thoughts about this since
and probably will not designate subspecies again.  I am in the process of
synonymizing one of the subspecies and have serious doubts about the other.  I
find it more useful to simply describe geographic variation than to give it a
formal trinomen -- at least for amphipods.  Perhaps in birds and other
taxonomically well-known and well-studied taxa the designation of subspecies is
acceptable, but we lack too much essential information to make it useful for
amphipods and probably most other crustaceans (and probably for many other
invertebrates as well).

Best regards,
John

John R. Holsinger
Professor of Biological Sciences
Dept. of Biological Sciences
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, Virginia 23529-0266, USA
TEL  757-683-3606
FAX  757-683-5283
E-mail:    jholsing at odu.edu
Internet:  http://www.odu.edu/~jrh100f