Selling species (from today's Science)

[MAGarland at AOL.COM]

The list may be interested in the following news item from today's Science
(287:  421):

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TAXONOMY:
Researchers Cash In on Personalized Species Names

Sabine Steghaus-Kovac

In return for a donation to biodiversity research, you can now have a
previously unknown species named after you and recorded in the scientific
literature for perpetuity. The scheme, dubbed BIOPAT, was registered last
week as a nonprofit organization in Germany. Its founders hope it will become
a valuable source of funding for the unglamorous fields of systematics and
taxonomy, as well as supporting conservation in the new species' home
countries.


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I always wondered how I could get a species named after me without all that
tedious work!

Mark Garland
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
2600 Blair Stone Road, Mail Station 2500
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
U.S.A.