[Taxacom] Names, phylogenies and classifications for newbies

[Bob Mesibov]

Because many of the discussions we've had on these topics are um... venerable, it's worth directing newcomers to this list to some recent overviews of the core issues. Two excellent introductions of this sort are open access, and both come from herpetology (thanks to Stephen Thorpe for a tip to the first):

Georges, A. and Thomson, S. 2010. Diversity of Australasian freshwater turtles, with an annotated synonymy and keys to species. Zootaxa 2496: 1–37. [Esp the first 9 pages]
http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2010/f/zt02496p037.pdf

Pauly, G.B., Hillis, D.M. and Cannatella, D.C. 2009. Taxonomic freedom and the role of official lists of species names. Herpetologica 65(2): 115-128.
http://www.hljournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1655%2F08-031R1.1 [Watch out for URL truncation]
-- 
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