systematics V taxonomy

[Mary Barkworth]

I attended a lecture once in which the professor stated "I am a
systematist, not a taxonomist. Being a taxonomist requires too much work
because one has to look at so many specimens". She was quite clear in
her own mind that her primary focus is not what she would mean by
taxonomy. The question of whether the two words were at one time
synonymous did not enter into it. Language does change, and usage
undoubtedly varies, possibly regionally and may be also with age of
user.