[Taxacom] Mea culpa

[Lyubomir Penev]

I wish we had named it "cavernicola". As I a former taxonomist I am aware
about the "-cola" rule. We simply forgot about it being over-strained with
other issues in this project. Anyway, mea maxima culpa!

There is a positive side, though. This visible case shows that some clauses
of the Code should be re-written so that to be more explicit in telling
what to do - or what not to do - in such cases.

But OK, why we did all this effort?

There are many new species described with SEM images, DNA barcoding (and
other genes sequencing), there are some scanned with micro-CT, etc. What is
the difference in this case?

(1) This is definitely the first eukaryotic species described with a fully
sequenced transcriptome and this is definitely the first 'holistic" species
description that uses such a range of available methods, both conventional
and novel, to describe a taxon.

(2) The transcriptome data itself will become a part of the large scale
transcriptome sequencing projects of
BGI<http://www.genomics.cn/en/navigation/show_navigation?nid=4223>.
Not far from now, the accumulation of such data may yield rather different
views on the organismic evolution. So, our poor centipede joined the big
genomic data world from the time of its discovery.

(3) Handling data in different repositories and also putting all these
together in open access (of course!) into one repository (GigaDB) so that
to be properly described  and re-used in the future by anyone who is
interested, was a challenge and represents itself an important 'big' data
management pilot for taxonomy.

(4) The paper discusses the concept of the 'cybertype', published
earlier<http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.263.4261>this year. Micro-CT
scans ensure that morphological and anatomical
characters can be examined in their natural position without damage to the
original type specimen and without the need loan the specimen or visit a
museum.

(5) The effort was huge, the costs are there, but the project is not that
expensive as one might think. It is surely cheaper if compared to the costs
of an expedition to a tropical country to collect new species that will
(probably) be never described.

(6) We paid tribute also to the predecessors. All species in the
identification key  are linked to their original marked up descriptions
stored in the Plazi Treatment Repository.

Such projects will put taxonomy at the place that it has historically but
not politically gained over the centuries.

Now enjoy the video<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqPuwKG8hE4&feature=player_embedded>
.

Cheers,
Lyubomir



-- 
Dr. Lyubomir Penev
Managing Director
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-- 
Dr. Lyubomir Penev
Managing Director
Pensoft Publishers
13a Geo Milev Street
1111 Sofia, Bulgaria
Fax +359-2-8704282
ww.pensoft.net <http://www.pensoft.net/journals>
Publishing services for journals:
http://www.pensoft.net/services-for-journals
Books published by Pensoft:
http://www.pensoft.net/books-published-by-Pensoft
Services for scientific projects: http://www.pensoft.net/projects
Find us on: Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pensoft-Publishers/170816832934216?ref=ts>,
Google+<https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/114819936210826038991/114819936210826038991/posts>,
Twitter  <https://twitter.com/#%21/Pensoft>