[Taxacom] saturday morning fun

[David Campbell]

There seems to be appreciable problems in GBIF's attempts to deal with
homonyms.  Papillina, for example, was used first in Gastropoda and
then in Porifera.  GBIF has apparently harvested the Porifera taxonomy
from one source and data records for the snail from other sources.  I
did try emailing GBIF about it.

Probably the greatest problem is that there's generally no support for
actual taxonomists to check the data for compilations of this sort.
The assumption that "people are paid in museums and other
organisations to digitise and enter data into collections databases"
is often incorrect.  Often they aren't paid, or else they are
minimally paid.  Thus, it becomes a job for student assistants,
volunteers, etc., who often don't have a good grasp of taxonomy,
geography, etc., while more competent taxonomists can't find paid
employment.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
The Paleontological Research Institution
1259 Trumansburg Road
Ithaca NY 14850