[Taxacom] New lizard species

Tue Jun 8 02:37:55 CDT 2010

Articles 78.2.2 and 78.2.3 are what ICZN has to allow the Commission to adjudicate any question regarding the Code including whether a name is available or not.

Article 78.2.3 is the best one for this particular case as it says "The Commission, on its own initiative [Art. 83] or when a case is referred to it, may interpret or apply the provisions of the Code to any question of zoological nomenclature, and give a ruling in an Opinion [Art. 80.2].".

-N
________________________________________
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Paul Kirk [p.kirk at cabi.org]
Sent: 07 June 2010 21:18
To: Doug Yanega; TAXACOM at MAILMAN.NHM.KU.EDU
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] New lizard species

Is there not a provision within the ICZN equivalent to Art. 32.4 in the
ICBN?

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
[mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Doug Yanega
Sent: 08 June 2010 03:46
To: TAXACOM at MAILMAN.NHM.KU.EDU
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] New lizard species

>So let us recap:
>
>your mission is to convince us that the new gecko names are not Code
>compliant
>
>I say that they clearly are Code compliant, based on a straightforward
>reading of the English version of the relevant ICZN
>article:
>
>13.1.1. be accompanied by a description or definition that states in
>words characters that are purported to differentiate the taxon

Let's recap:

"Diagnosis. This species includes all populations that cluster with
those from the southern portion of the Congolian rainforest included in
this study (southern Cameroon, Gabon and Congo), with strong support in
the Bayesian species delimitation model."

Assuming Bob cited this correctly, then this is neither a definition nor
a description using characters. It refers to population-level phenomena,
and does not even bother to include within the diagnosis itself a
statement indicating those features which cause populations to group
together in statistical space. The issue of a diagnosis based solely on
geographic distribution has come up before, but this text doesn't even
do that much; it is an *undefined* feature or set of features
(presumably referred to elsewhere *outside* of the species description)
that ostensibly allow for diagnosis. That's no different from a
diagnosis which says "This species is diagnosed from its relatives by a
variety of characters including distribution" and leaving it at that.
You have to say WHAT those characters ARE.

Do these authors say what those characters are in their descriptions?
If not, then they are not code-compliant.

Sincerely,
--

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

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