[Taxacom] loooongest species description?

[Pavel Štys]

Finding the shortest description (or the prettiest one)  iis surely more
fun.
The shortest I know in antomology is a true bug by  Fabricius´"Similis sed
alia" and the prettiest one (without reference, perhaps a lore) should
concern a buprestid - "Minima suis generis sed sit magna fuit omnibus
pulchritudine superavisset".
Pavel

On 24 February 2011 21:36, Richard Pyle <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org> wrote:

> The description of Pygoplites diacanthus (Boddaert, 1772) beats that at 43
> pages:
>
> Boddaert, Pieter. 1772. Epistola ad virum celeberrium Hier. Dav. Gaubium,
> Medicinae Doctorem, in Academia Lugduno-Batava vedicinae practicae atque
> chemiae prefessorum, Societatis regiae Londinensis, atque Societatis
> scientiarum Harlemensis, Socium, serenissimi principis Arausiaci foederati
> Belgii gubernatoris archiatrum. de chaetodonte diacantho, descripto atque
> accuratissima icone illustrata ex museo viri celeberrimi Johannis Albertis
> Schlosseri, dum in vivis esset medicinae doctoris expertissimi, Societatis
> regiae Londinensis, atque Societatis Zeelandicae Scientiarum, quae
> flissingae est, socii. M. Magérus, Amstelodami [= Amsterdam]. Pp. 1-43.
>
> Heck, the *title* is longer than some species descriptions.
>
> To be fair, it is a spectacular species:
> http://www.google.com/images?q=pygoplites+diacanthus
>
> Rich
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [mailto:taxacom-
> > bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Frank.Krell at dmns.org
> > Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 8:08 AM
> > To: andy_deans at ncsu.edu; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> > Subject: Re: [Taxacom] loooongest species description?
> >
> > 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/
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> > Taxacom Mailing List
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> >
> > The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either of
> > these methods:
> >
> > (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
> >
> > Or (2) a Google search specified as:
> > site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
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> >
> > The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either of
> > these methods:
> >
> > (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
> >
> > Or (2) a Google search specified as:
> > site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
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> The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either of these
> methods:
>
> (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
>
> Or (2) a Google search specified as:  site:
> mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
>



-- 
Prof. RNDr. Pavel Stys
Editor, EJE; Commissioner, ICZN London
Research: Heteroptera (systematics, ethology), evolutionary entomology,
aposematism
Department of Zoology
Charles University
Vinicna 7, Praha 2
CZ-128 44 Czech Republic
e-mails: <pavelstys at gmail.com>
             <pavelstys at post.cz>
phone: xx420-22195-1835
fax: xx420-22195-1841