[Taxacom] species inquirenda or nomen dubium = BOTH!

[Geoff Read]

There is a third label. What about 'incertae sedis' (lit. undetermined
seat, &  also defined by ICZN glossary)?  Is this more to be used for
uncertain placement in a hierarchy (genus or family unknown)?
A species inquirenda might also be incertae sedis, but a monograph known
to me confidently assigns a list of binomials to either species inquirenda
or incertae sedis. Not sure how/why, but possibly it's just repeating the
(arbitrary) terminology used by the prior authors.
Incertae sedis is seemingly a more frequently used term than species
inquirenda (ngrams.googlelabs.com).


Geoff

>>> On 13/06/2011 at 2:02 a.m., "Chris Thompson" <xelaalex at cox.net> wrote:
> Stephen:
>
> You are right to bring up this question.
>
> Most people confuse these terms or do not realize that it is the context
> that is critical.
>
> Species inquirenda is an taxonomical term and should only be used in the
> context of a taxonomy / systematic study (monograph, revision, etc.).
And as
>
> others have pointed out this means a questionable species. That is, for
some
>
> taxonomic reason, the species concept is not clearly defined. That may be
> due to the lack of diagnostic characters or questions about biological
> parameters, like whether the individuals are inter‑breeding or not.
>
> nomen dubium (nomina dubia) is a nomenclatural term and is, as Paul noted,
> defined by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.