[Taxacom] "how to approach the revision of a taxon": a plea

[John Noyes]

Hi Marco,

 

I would suggest that you get hold of

 

BOLTON, B. 2007. How to conduct large-scale taxonomic revisions in Formicidae (pp. 52-71). In, Snelling, R.R., Fisher, B.L. & Ward, P.S. (eds). Advances in ant systematics: homage to E.O. Wilson - 50 years of contributions. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 80: 690 pp.

 

It would be an excellent place to start. Even though it is basically aimed at ant taxonomy, much of it is applicable to virtually any large group of organisms. 

 

John

 

 

John Noyes

Scientific Associate

Department of Entomology

Natural History Museum

Cromwell Road

South Kensington

London SW7 5BD 

UK

jsn at nhm.ac.uk

Tel.: +44 (0) 207 942 5594

Fax.: +44 (0) 207 942 5229

 

Universal Chalcidoidea Database (everything you wanted to know about chalcidoids and more):

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/chalcidoids/

or

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/chalcidoids

 

Interactive catalogue and biological database of World Chalcidoidea on

CD:

Contact the publisher: DickyS._Yu at telus.net, or Dicky S. Yu, P.O.Box 48205, Bentall Centre, Vancouver B.C., V7X 1N8, CANADA; see also www.taxapad.com  

 

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of curini
Sent: 29 April 2011 17:59
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: [Taxacom] "how to approach the revision of a taxon": a plea

 

some of you may have proved this special feeling... the deadline of your lecture approaching, and feeling totally inadeguate to the task........it is a disturbing sensation (disturbing at present, with the deadline on may 20th - it will be horrible on may 19th...).

What I (alas, too lightly..) accepted to lecture was 'How to approach the revision of a taxon (some clues and a practical example)' in a spring school, addressed to PhD and post-doctoral students (I guess mostly italians) , which will be held in Venice (yes, this may have prompted my quick acceptation....).

 I (somehow...) revised the taxon I work on (Proseriata, a group of microturbellarians) - but I am afraid they would not be much useful as 'practical examples' (tiny, soft-bodied creatures, of which there are almost no collections in museums (and those few, made by german students, mostly blew up during WWII...), need to be studied in sections, bibliography far from extensive...). Many taxa are certainly not so.....

would some of you want to share your experiences on other taxa? any input/suggestion on how to organize the lecture (which could make my presentation, and my present feelings, less miserable...) is absolutely welcome.................

thank you.....................

 

Marco Curini-Galletti

Dipartimento di Zoologia e Genetica Evoluzionistica

Università di Sassari

Via F. Muroni, 25 - 07100 Sassari (Italy)

Tel: +39 079 228662 Fax: +39 079 228665

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