[Taxacom] Trewick, 1998

[Stephen Thorpe]

Hi Steve,
Although we have never met, it is possible that I owe you an apology,  
at least Geoff Read of Wellington seems to think so! I was part of a  
discussion on the Taxacom list server, and someone asked for examples  
of taxonomy based purely on molecular distinctions (in the context of  
this being a bad thing). Bod Mesibov and myself immediately and  
independently replied with the example of your 1998 paper on sympatric  
cryptic species in N.Z. Onychophora! I added a comment about having  
heard (off the record) certain serious criticisms (specifically,  
unrepeatability and nomenclatural problems) of your 1998 publication  
by another molecular taxonomist, whom I didn't name. Geoff came to  
your defence with a subsequent paper of yours which supports the 1998  
paper. I made the comment, which I may have not worded very well (!),  
that a subsequent paper by the same author (whoever it may be) cannot  
in itself be taken as an objective judgement on the matter. Geoff  
appears to have interpreted this as a personal attack on you by me,  
using the word "defamatory"! So, I would just like to assure that this  
was not my intention (I was commenting not on you, but on specific  
work you had put into the public domain 11 years ago in the form of a  
publication), and invite you to comment on Taxacom directly about how  
you now view that 1998 paper, in the light of subsequent technological  
advances in molecular taxonomy/systematics. If you are not signed up  
to Taxacom, just reply to me and I will forward it to the list. This  
email has also gone out to the list.
Cheers,
Stephen

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