[Taxacom] A romp through an aggregator

Tony.Rees at csiro.au Tony.Rees at csiro.au
Tue May 25 20:08:16 CDT 2010


Stephen,

You are right, but I suspect this is possibly an error in Nomenclator Zoologicus (one of the first aggregators, but nonetheless useful...)

On the other hand it may be correct, which is why access to the original description of Lunulites Lamarck, 1812 is required. (Also I have not yet been able to find the original of Lunula König, 1825, which would also shed light on the matter).

Of course if Lunulites Lamarck, 1812 were indeed the basionym for Lunula König, 1825, the latter would not be required, which is why I believe Lunula König, 1825 is more likely a replacement name for Lunulites Lamarck, 1816, the junior homonym, as elsewhere stated e.g. by Hansson, 1999, http://www.tmbl.gu.se/libdb/taxon/neat_pdf/NEAT*Lophophorata.pdf .

Regards - Tony

________________________________
From: Stephen Thorpe [mailto:stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz]
Sent: Wednesday, 26 May 2010 10:51 AM
To: Rees, Tony (CMAR, Hobart)
Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] A romp through an aggregator

Just to confuse matters further regarding Lunulites, according to the Nomenclator Zoologicus, Lunula Koenig, 1825 is in fact a replacement name for Lunulites Lamarck, 1812 (the senior homonym!)

http://www.ubio.org/NZ/search.php?search=Lunulites&selectall=Check+All&colname=on&colcategory=on&colauthority=on&colcomments=on&page=&vol=

________________________________
From: "Tony.Rees at csiro.au" <Tony.Rees at csiro.au>
To: RichardsK at landcareresearch.co.nz; mesibov at southcom.com.au; dremsen at gbif.org
Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Sent: Wed, 26 May, 2010 12:41:56 PM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] A romp through an aggregator

Interesting discussion. Bob's particular instance is triggered by the existence of genus level homonyms created by taxonomists in the absence of good aggregation resources of the day which might have averted this...

On a separate but indeed parallel note, I am interested in tracing the nature of the genus Lunulites described by Lamarck, 1812 in Extr. Cours Zool., 26., apparently a protist (perhaps a foraminifer), not the same as Lunulites Lamarck, 1816, a bryozoan, which latter name is still in general use but should not be, having been replaced by Lunula König, 1825 (which has another later homonym, Lunula Hitchcock, 1865, an ichnofossil, currently unreplaced...).

Anyway if any person can shed light on the nature of the Lamarck, 1812 instance of Lunulites I would be interested. The full title of the work is "Extrait du Cours de Zoologie du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, sur les Animaux sans vertèbres..." but BHL does not appear to have it online at this time.

(All in the course of preventing more data errors of the type just indicated by Bob)

Regards to all - Tony.

Tony Rees
Manager, Divisional Data Centre,
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research,
GPO Box 1538,
Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
Ph: 0362 325318 (Int: +61 362 325318)
Fax: 0362 325000 (Int: +61 362 325000)
e-mail: Tony.Rees at csiro.au<mailto:Tony.Rees at csiro.au>
Manager, OBIS Australia regional node, http://www.obis.org.au/
Biodiversity informatics research activities: http://www.cmar.csiro.au/datacentre/biodiversity.htm
Personal info: http://www.fishbase.org/collaborators/collaboratorsummary.cfm?id=1566


-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>] On Behalf Of Kevin Richards
Sent: Wednesday, 26 May 2010 9:15 AM
To: Bob Mesibov; David Remsen (GBIF)
Cc: TAXACOM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] A romp through an aggregator

Not sure why all these efforts have to be so competing?  There are obvious benefits of both approaches...

We need a way to make these efforts work together, and I suspect that the answer may be a faster feedback loop, from data source, to aggregator (s) back to data source.  One of the best ways to pick up errors/issues is to aggregate the data (including wikis) (top of the top down), then the best way to fix it is to provide feedback to the data provider (bottom of the bottom up), so they can either fix the issue, or improve the data flow into the aggregators.

Eg

Data provider  ->  regional aggregator  -> global aggregator / wikis
    ^                                              |
    |                                              v
Feedback  <-  data use / issue spotting  <-  portal (eg EoL)


Of course "data use" could happen at any point in this cycle, but I don't think that the "quality" of the data at any point should make any part of the cycle "better" than the other part??  Just indicate that some pert of the cycle needs improving/updating/etc, no??

Kevin


-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>] On Behalf Of Bob Mesibov
Sent: Wednesday, 26 May 2010 12:20 a.m.
To: David Remsen (GBIF)
Cc: TAXACOM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] A romp through an aggregator

David,

I'll be out of contact for a few days but will try to respond quickly. I think two things are being confused here. First, we have people who want my (or anyone's) data, and we'd like an efficient way for those people to get the data. Second, we have projects which are aspiring (I won't say claiming) to be the best possible in-between data brokers. It should be obvious that I don't have much time for the project approach. The first matter is different, because it goes to the heart of what Stephen Thorpe was asking: who wants what data, and why? There's flexibility implied there that isn't possible with pre-structured data. Sets of names linked to sets of specimens are not the whole story, because the names and IDs are works-in-progress, and because beyond taxonomic and specimen data there really is a lot more to biodiversity that cannot be easily structured with a data mark-up protocol. If the only biodiversity information available is the kind that can be served between databases, then we don't need taxonomists (or biologists, for that matter). The most efficient way to link answer-seeker and answer-supplier is with a phone number, an email address or an online forum. The next most efficient way is with bottom-up resources, including the wiki-style builds that Jason Mate prefers. The aspiring middlemen just aren't up to the job. They literally don't know what they're handling.
--
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

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