[Taxacom] Article 16.2 of the ICZN

Tue Nov 24 16:28:48 CST 2009

I completely agree with all of your points!  Of course, some databases are
much better than others about distinguishing Available from Unavailable
names (Catalog of Fishes, BDWD, Index Fungorum, HNS, and a number of others
come to mind). The hope is to raise the bar for all of the databases.

Aloha,
Rich

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stephen Thorpe [mailto:s.thorpe at auckland.ac.nz] 
> Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 12:23 PM
> To: Richard Pyle; 'TAXACOM'
> Subject: RE: [Taxacom] Article 16.2 of the ICZN
> 
> Just to be clear about something that may not be fully 
> understood by some: currently, all bioinformatic databases, 
> including ZooBank, contain names that are not available (due 
> to non-compliance with the Code), but which are not flagged 
> as such. This is a potential source of much confusion. I very 
> much doubt if Code compliance could ever be verified by 
> machine, and the manual approach will take a very long time 
> indeed! There are both internal and external factors to be 
> verified. The external factors include verification that the 
> publication is indeed validly published according to the 
> Code, which could involve tracking down and verifying hard 
> copies of electronic publications, etc.
> 
> Stephen
> 
> ________________________________________
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
> [taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Richard 
> Pyle [deepreef at bishopmuseum.org]
> Sent: Wednesday, 25 November 2009 11:11 a.m.
> To: 'TAXACOM'
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Article 16.2 of the ICZN
> 
> Just to be clear on the role of ZooBank on this: there is a 
> two-step process. The first step is to enter the record in 
> the database and assign an LSID.  The second step is to 
> validate its compliance with the Code.  The first step is in 
> operation, but the second step is still being defined through 
> various draft ZooBank Policies (the first of which was 
> announced to this list and others and opened for public 
> commentary some time ago by Frank Krell).
> 
> Aloha,
> Rich
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> > [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Oconnor, 
> > Barry
> > Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 11:55 AM
> > To: Stephen Thorpe; Bob Mesibov
> > Cc: TAXACOM
> > Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Article 16.2 of the ICZN
> >
> > I see the family name is registered in ZooBank and that the authors 
> > followed Phylocode protocols in defining their clade-based taxon. 
> > Perhaps when that code takes effect, all will be moot. One can then 
> > choose one's code. - Barry
> >
> > -So many mites, so little time!
> >
> > Barry M. OConnor                    phone: 734-763-4354
> > Curator & Professor                 fax: 734-763-4080
> > Museum of Zoology                 e-mail: bmoc at umich.edu
> > University of Michigan
> > 1109 Geddes Ave
> > Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 11/24/09 4:40 PM, "Stephen Thorpe" 
> <s.thorpe at auckland.ac.nz> wrote:
> >
> > >The Code is voluntary
> >
> > That's an interesting assertion! Sure, nobody is pointing a gun at 
> > taxonomists heads and saying "follow the Code, or die!", but it is 
> > irresponsible of editors to accept manuscripts that clearly don't 
> > follow the Code. Besides, taxonomists naming new taxa 
> generally want 
> > their names to be forever associated with the new name, but 
> if I now 
> > go and publish a one line note citing a type species for 
> > Mahajangasuchidae, then it will be forever known as 
> Mahajangasuchidae 
> > Thorpe! Also, not following the Code is going to make the 
> > bioinformaticians dream database a whole lot harder to create...
> >
> > Stephen
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: Bob Mesibov [mesibov at southcom.com.au]
> > Sent: Wednesday, 25 November 2009 10:36 a.m.
> > To: Stephen Thorpe
> > Cc: TAXACOM
> > Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Article 16.2 of the ICZN
> >
> > The Code is voluntary, and some taxonomists interpret that as 
> > 'relaxed'. There are so many instances of non-compliance 
> that there is 
> > very little point in pursuing specific instances.
> >
> > In 2007 I pointed out that a paper published in a well-known 
> > systematics journal contained invalid lectotype 
> designations (see ICZN 
> > article 74.7). One of the authors, a taxonomist, wrote to me as 
> > follows:
> >
> > 'Yes, you are correct, we did not follow 74.7.3 (nor did 
> the journal 
> > care). I expect more work will be done on the group and such 
> > technicalities can be dealt with.'
> >
> > If you wanted to be unkind about the situation, you could say that 
> > there are two sorts of taxonomists: those who do things 
> properly, and 
> > those who don't and expect the other sort to fix up the resulting 
> > mess. Such is life.
> > --
> > Dr Robert Mesibov
> > Honorary Research Associate
> > Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and School of Zoology, 
> > University of Tasmania Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, 
> > Australia 7316
> > (03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
> > Webpage: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/mesibov.html
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> > Taxacom Mailing List
> > Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> > http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> >
> > The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with 
> either of 
> > these methods:
> >
> > (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
> >
> > Or (2) a Google search specified as:
> > site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> > Taxacom Mailing List
> > Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> > http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> >
> > The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with 
> either of 
> > these methods:
> >
> > (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
> >
> > Or (2) a Google search specified as:
> > site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
> >
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> Taxacom Mailing List
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> 
> The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with 
> either of these methods:
> 
> (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
> 
> Or (2) a Google search specified as:  
> site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here