[Taxacom] New species of the future

[Robert Mill]

Impressive stuff, except for one important and very basic thing - the authors have neglected to check that  their epithet was spelled  correctly. It isn't - it should be cavernicola, not "cavernicolus".- All Latin epithets ending in -cola denoting the habitat of the plant or animal are spelled that way regardless of whether the genus is masculine, feminine or neuter because the ending -cola  is treated as a noun in apposition and therefore it is indeclinable. You cannot write "cavernicolus" or "cavernicolum", or anything else -colus or -colum. At least not in botany because Art. 23.5 of the ICN (Melbourne Code) says that "-colus" and "-colum" endings are to be treated as correctable errors, to -cola. There is an accompanying Example: "Ex. 8. When Blanchard proposed Rubus “amnicolus”, it was a correctable error for R. amnicola Blanch. (1906)".

I trust that Biodiversity Data Journal will publish the necessary correction in due course, assuming that the ICZN also requires that incorrect endings such as -colus be corrected.

The real point I am making is that before all the gee-whizz technology and other stuff goes into any taxonomic paper, its authors must first make sure that the epithets of their new taxa are correctly formed. That and compliance with all the necessary Articles to validate their name under the Code they are working with are fundamental - everything else is icing on the cake.  (Very nice icing in this case.) Referees and editors must also check that simple basic errors like this do not get past the review process but are corrected before publication.

Best wishes, Robert


Dr Robert Mill | Gymnosperm Systematist | Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh | 20A Inverleith Row | Edinburgh | EH3 5LR | Scotland, UK
T: + 44 (0) 131 248 2935 (direct) | F:+ 44 (0) 131 248 2901 | E: r.mill at rbge.ac.uk  
www:rbge.org.uk | Visit my staff home page at http://www.rbge.org.uk/science/genetics-and-conservation/robert-mills-homepage



-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Lyubomir Penev
Sent: 29 October 2013 10:43
To: Taxa com
Subject: [Taxacom] New species of the future

*Eupolybothrus cavernicolus*, a cave-dwelling centipede discovered in a remote karst region of Croatia, has become the first new eukaryotic species described with fully sequenced transcriptomic profile, DNA barcoding , detailed anatomical X-ray micro-tomography (micro-CT), and a movie of the living specimen, all this in addition to the conventional morphological description, photos and SEM images.
This, most data-rich species description, represents also the first biodiversity project that joins the ISA (Investigation-Study-Assay) Commons, that is an approach created by the genomic and molecular biology communities to store and describe different data types collected in the course of a multidisciplinary study.

Details are available through the following links:

Original article:*Eupolybothrus cavernicolus* Komerički & Stoev sp. n.
(Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha: Lithobiidae): the first eukaryotic species description combining transcriptomic, DNA barcoding and micro-CT imaging data <http://biodiversitydatajournal.com/articles.php?id=1013>

GigaScience editorial: Biodiversity research in the “big data” era: *
GigaScience* and Pensoft work together to publish the most data-rich species description <http://www.gigasciencejournal.com/content/2/1/14>

Press release: The cyber-centipede: From Linnaeus to big data<http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/pp-tcf102513.php>

More on the ISA approach:Toward interoperable bioscience data<http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v44/n2/full/ng.1054.html>

Cheers,
Lyubomir
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