[Taxacom] Accessing type specimens
John Grehan
jgrehan at sciencebuff.org
Thu Nov 26 20:44:08 CST 2009
Some museums will loan types, but only if they are hand delivered.
The most serious problem of type access that the writer should look at
is where type access is prevented for researchers who may have a
different perspective to those who found the type. This occurs in
hominid systematics as a particular example, and it is a gross abuse in
my opinion, although I acknowledge that researchers in general do not
appear to be at all concerned and major funders continue to fund the
research of those who engage in this practice.
The writer should also point out that unimpeded access to types is
essential for systematics and taxonomy to retain their status as
science.
John Grehan
-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
[mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Pyle
Sent: Thursday, November 26, 2009 12:25 PM
To: 'TAXACOM'
Subject: [Taxacom] Accessing type specimens
Hi All,
I've been in contact with a writer doing a story on how technology can
assist taxonomy. One of the things he wants to understand better is the
difficulties associated with accessing type specimens. In particular,
he's interested in these two questions:
(a) why the need to examine type specimens slows down the process of
taxonomy; and
(b) why museums seem reluctant (if they do) to send type specimens all
over the place to people.
We all know the importance of examining type specimens when trying to
determine whether something is a new species and/or when conducting
taxonomic work (and so does he). But he's trying to make sure he
understands correctly what the difficulties are in doing so. On the
first question, I was able to give him my own perspective for the groups
I work on (fish type specimens are scattered all over the planet), but
it would be good to get a broader spectrum of input & experience on
that. For example, I know there have been threads on Taxacom before
about accessing types in private collections, etc.
As for the second question, I explained to him that many Museums are
(and always have been) hesitant to send type specimens on loan, for fear
they may be lost, damaged, or never returned. However, it has also been
my sense that this trend of reluctance has been increasing in recent
years. In particular, I recall after the anthrax scare (soon after
9/11), the U.S.
postal service began irradiating mail, and (I think) some Museums (e.g.
Smithsonian) stopped sending type specimens (all specimens?) for a
while. I don't have any objective data to support my sense of the
increasing trend of reluctance to send type specimens around the world,
so I wanted to find out if others have detected the same trend over the
last 10-20 years, and how this has affected the pace of taxonomy.
Many thanks in advance!
Aloha,
Rich
Richard L. Pyle, PhD
Database Coordinator for Natural Sciences
and Associate Zoologist in Ichthyology Department of Natural Sciences,
Bishop Museum
1525 Bernice St., Honolulu, HI 96817
Ph: (808)848-4115, Fax: (808)847-8252
email: deepreef at bishopmuseum.org
http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/staff/pylerichard.html
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