[Taxacom] the dangers of closed source taxonomy

[Jim Croft]

While not dismissing these facts, client survey here is indicating a
user preference for a wikipedia-like resource (with the facility for
on-line correction and annotation by the community) but with the named
named authority of acknowledged specialists and experts.  In other
words they want a comprehensive resource they can trust.

It may sound like a foot in both camps, cake and eat it solution, but
with a bit of collaboration,coordination and good will it could work.

jim

On Sun, Aug 9, 2009 at 6:10 PM, Stephen Thorpe<s.thorpe at auckland.ac.nz> wrote:
> 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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-- 
_________________
Jim Croft ~ jim.croft at gmail.com ~ +61-2-62509499 ~
http://www.google.com/profiles/jim.croft
... in pursuit of the meaning of leaf ...
... 'All is leaf' ('Alles ist Blatt') - Goethe