[Taxacom] the dangers of closed source taxonomy

[Stephen Thorpe]

Here are just a few illustrations of how far from the truth some  
apparently "reliable" closed sources of taxonomic/faunistic  
information are:



(1) Australian Faunal Directory on the genus Apteropanorpa

compare

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/fauna/afd/taxa/Apteropanorpa/checklist#selected

with

http://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Apteropanorpa



(2) TOL on Penichrolucaninae (version dated 2007)

http://tolweb.org/Penichrolucaninae/104775

Actually, Penichrolucaninae was rightly synonymised with Lucaninae by  
Bartolozzi (1989)

Bartolozzi, L. 1989: Taxonomic revue [review] of the genus  
Penichrolucanus Deyrolle 1863 (Coleoptera Lucanidae) with notes on its  
biology. Tropical zoology, 2: 37-44.

Even if this were disputed (which it isn't), it is surely worth a  
mention on the TOL page? Moreover, Nikolajev (1999), proposed that the  
two genera of "Penichrolucaninae" were unrelated and proposed  
Brasilucanini and Penichrolucanini as independent tribes. Again,  
surely worth mentioning even if disputed!

Nikolajev, G.V. 1999: On the polyphyly of the subfamily  
Penichrolucaninae (Coleoptera, Lucanidae), with the erection of the  
new monotypic tribe Brasilucanini. Tethys entomological research, (1):  
171-172. [in Russian, with English summary]




(3) Larivière, M.-C.; Larochelle, A. 2004: Heteroptera (Insecta:  
Hemiptera): catalogue. Fauna of New Zealand, (50)

Although this contribution attempted only to organise existing  
information in collections without doing very much additional  
taxonomic work (!), just a little bit of effort could have saved the  
following two HUGE gulfs between what was written and the actual truth:

(i) Stizocephalus brevirostris: stated to be known in N.Z. only from  
the unique holotype from a mountain in South Island (and also present  
in Australia). In fact it is extremely common in the parks and  
reserves of Auckland City, where the authors live! I didn't discover  
this until it was too late to include in the publication, but why was  
it up to me to discover it? It's not difficult to find!

(ii) Paradrymus exilirostris: first N.Z. record stated to be  
Wellington 1976. In fact, there are specimens in the collection where  
the authors work and have control over, collected in Auckland  
(Lynfield) in 1974! Why was it me to first bother to find them in  
unsorted material, and identify them, unfortunately again after it was  
too late to include them in the publication. They had been sitting in  
the collection since 1974! It wasn't difficult to notice them... And  
note that these same authors have now had me banned from the collection!


Stephen



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