[Taxacom] loooongest species description?

[Frank.Krell at dmns.org]

Andy,

probably not exactly what you are looking for, but the description of the flower chafer Epicometis annabrunae comprises 12 pages:
Crovetti, A. 1973. Risultati delle mission entomologiche dei Proff. G. Giori et E. Mellini nel Nord-Africa. XXVII. Epicometis (Epicometis) annabrunae n. sp. della Libia (Coleoptera Scarabaeidae Cetoniinae). - Atti della Societa Italiana di Science Naturali et del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Milano 114 (3): 330-344.
Might be the longest journal title, too.
The description doesn't contain a record number of characters, but has all the comparisons included in the description. It is still the longest I know.
:-)

Frank


Dr Frank T. Krell 
Curator of Entomology 
Commissioner, International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
Chair, ICZN ZooBank Committee
Department of Zoology 
Denver Museum of Nature & Science 
2001 Colorado Boulevard 
Denver, CO 80205-5798 USA 
Frank.Krell at dmns.org 
Phone: (+1) (303) 370-8244 
Fax: (+1) (303) 331-6492 
http://www.dmns.org/science/museum-scientists/frank-krell




-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Andy Deans
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 9:15 AM
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: [Taxacom] loooongest species description?

Hi all,

What are your candidates for the longest species description? I'm especially interested in descriptions that have the highest number of *anatomical attributes* described, as opposed to behavioral, ecological, or other characters. Any thoughts? 

My quick and dirty examination of recent Hymenoptera descriptions yields an average of 42 or so morphological characters per description. For the purposes of this exercise I am lumping the diagnosis and description together. Anyone know of a description that is hundreds of characters long and takes up dozens of pages?

It'd would be fun to see it!
Just curious,
Andy

Andrew R. Deans
Department of Entomology
North Carolina State University
Campus Box 7613
2301 Gardner Hall
Raleigh, NC USA 27695-7613

phone: +1 (919) 515-2833
fax: +1 (919) 515-7746
skype: ardeans
http://deanslab.org/


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