[Taxacom] ICZN position on Darwinius

[Doug Yanega]

The president of the ICZN has just (within the last hour) made a 
public statement worth sharing here regarding Darwinius 
(http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/05/20/does-darwinius-exist/):

45.   Ellinor Michel Says:
May 21st, 2009 at 11:46 am
Thanks for this useful exchange. I thought I'd post the reply we have 
provided the authors and the press.
1. The names are not nomenclaturally available from the electronic 
version of the publication.
2. The journal has contacted us for advice on how to ensure these 
names are nomenclaturally available, which we provided, saying that a 
separate print edition must be produced by a method that assures 
numerous identical and durable copies, and that those copies must be 
obtainable free of charge or for purchase.
3. If the publisher does what we recommended, then the names will be 
nomenclaturally available from the date of the paper publication.
4. This is a provisional arrangement as the ICZN is working on a 
proposed amendment to the Code allowing nomenclatural availability of 
names published in electronic-only journals. The proposed amendment 
is available here: http://www.iczn.org/electronic_publication.html 
and we encourage public input in this important discussion.
5. There are >1.8 million named species in the world, with 
approximately 16,000-25,000 new nomenclatural acts each year in 
zoology alone. Managing the scientific names indexing of this 
biodiversity requires rules promoting stability. The International 
Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, representing the taxonomic 
community and users of zoological names, works to uphold stability 
but also to develop the rules to accommodate technological 
development.
-- 

Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314        skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82