[Taxacom] Nature needs names: 60 new dragonflies from Africa
Stephen Thorpe
stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz
Fri Dec 11 17:03:08 CST 2015
But it should be used sparingly
--------------------------------------------
On Sat, 12/12/15, Torbjørn Ekrem <torbjorn.ekrem at ntnu.no> wrote:
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Nature needs names: 60 new dragonflies from Africa
To: "John Grehan" <calabar.john at gmail.com>
Cc: "Stephen Thorpe" <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz>, "taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>, "info at pensoft.net" <info at pensoft.net>
Received: Saturday, 12 December, 2015, 11:59 AM
Or perhaps the authors
had a proper plan with their public outreach! I applaud any
effort, small or large, that shows the public what taxonomy
is about and why it is important for our society.
Torbjørn
> Den 11. des. 2015 kl. 23.42 skrev John
Grehan <calabar.john at gmail.com>:
>
> Every now and then,
for one reason or another, a particular taxonomic
> contribution will gain greater general
attention, perhaps due to the style,
>
approach, presentation, techniques etc, used by the authors,
sometimes
> perhaps for other reasons.
That's just the way it is. Life never promised a
> rose garden.
>
> John Grehan
>
> On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 5:36 PM, Stephen
Thorpe <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz>
> wrote:
>
>> Another example, just published, of a
less hyped but bigger contribution,
>>
is
>>
>>
Liebherr, J.K. 2015: The Mecyclothorax beetles (Coleoptera,
Carabidae,
>> Moriomorphini) of
Haleakala-, Maui: Keystone of a hyperdiverse Hawaiian
>> radiation. ZooKeys, 544: 1-407. doi:
10.3897/zookeys.544.6074
>>
>> In this case, the new names are
ZooBank registered, but, unfortunately, it
>> looks like there was a glitch:
>>
>> http://zoobank.org/References/C5978BD0-145B-40F8-ACDE-B27371B7B9A4
>>
>> Stephen
>>
>>
--------------------------------------------
>> On Sat, 12/12/15, Roderic Page <Roderic.Page at glasgow.ac.uk>
wrote:
>>
>>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Nature needs names: 60 new
dragonflies from Africa
>> To:
"taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu"
<taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
>> Cc: "Ellinor Michel" <e.michel at nhm.ac.uk>
>> Received: Saturday, 12 December, 2015,
4:38 AM
>>
>>
Hi Ellinor,
>>
>> I guess I’d argue that the
>> fact we feel the need to celebrate
this and the attention it
>> brings to
taxonomy is in part a consequence of the limited
>> reusability of taxonomic publications
in the first place. We
>> should be
aiming for reuse by everyone interested in
>> biodiversity data (e.g., the modellers
using GBIF data, the
>> phylogenetists
grabbing sequences from GenBank to build
>> trees, and so on). Maximising reuse
helps make the case for
>> the
importance of taxonomy, I would argue it’s a better
>> argument than the occasional
spectacular monograph of some
>>
beautiful insects.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Rod
>>
>>
>> On 11 Dec
>> 2015, at 11:59, Ellinor Michel <e.michel at nhm.ac.uk<mailto:
>> e.michel at nhm.ac.uk>>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Rod
>>
>> Your comments are valid, but
>> surely directed to the authors! I
posted this on their
>> behalf, as I
have more ready access to Taxacom posting at
>> the moment. You might want to broaden
the target your
>> comments, as the
story has been picked up by Science, and a
>> number of other outlets. Overall,
I'd say its terrific
>> that some
taxonomic groundwork is being celebrated.
>>
>> http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2015/12/explosion-new-dragonfly-species-results-animals-named-after-gorillas-pink-floyd
>>
>> I'm just
guessing, but
>> there are likely to
be constraints on publishing costs from
>> the authors' perspective so that
OA was not an option.
>> Thus the
focus of this kind of very constructive criticism
>> on your part should be the
administrations of the
>>
organisations that the authors work for, the science
funding
>> agencies, and the
publishers.
>>
>> In the meantime, this nice short
publicity also
>> does a nice job for
publicising the topic, with beautiful
>> photos
>>
>> http://africageographic.com/blog/60-new-species-dragonflies-discovered-africa/
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Ellinor
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: Roderic Page [Roderic.Page at glasgow.ac.uk<mailto:
>> Roderic.Page at glasgow.ac.uk>]
>> Sent: 11 December 2015 11:42
>> To: Ellinor Michel
>> Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
>> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Nature needs
names: 60
>> new dragonflies from
Africa
>>
>> Hi
Ellinor,
>>
>>
While I applaud the effort, and the dragonflies
>> are wonderful, it’s hard to applaud
the way this paper has
>> been
published:
>>
>> Does it in
>> an
open access journal? No
>> Does the
article
>> have a DOI so that it can
be easily cited? No
>> Are the names
registered with ZooBank? No
>> Are the
DNA sequences available in GenBank?
>>
No
>> Is the data available for
downloading?
>> No*
>> Has the distributional data been
>> deposited in GBIF? No
>>
>> I
>> don’t wish to take away from what
has clearly been a lot
>> of work, but
surely we need to think about the best way to
>> make all this hard work as widely
accessible as possible? A
>> PDF with
wonderful pictures of dragonflies and low
>> resolution maps does not represent the
best that modern
>> taxonomic
publishing can offer.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Rod
>>
>> * The articles says "A
>> list of collection codes and
corresponding BOLD numbers can
>> be
down- loaded from the journal website (http://www.odonatologica.com)”
>> This is
>> not a
link to the data, which I can’t see anywhere on the
>> web site.
>>
>>
---------------------------------------------------------
>> Roderic Page
>>
Professor of
>> Taxonomy
>> Institute of Biodiversity, Animal
>> Health and Comparative Medicine
>> College of
>>
Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences
>> Graham
>> Kerr
Building
>> University of Glasgow
>> Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
>>
>> Email: Roderic.Page at glasgow.ac.uk<mailto:Roderic.Page at glasgow.ac.uk
>>> <mailto:Roderic.Page at glasgow.ac.uk>
>> Tel: +44 141 330 4778
>> Skype: rdmpage
>> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rdmpage
>> LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/rdmpage
>> Twitter: http://twitter.com/rdmpage
>> Blog: http://iphylo.blogspot.com<http://iphylo.blogspot.com/>
>> ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7101-9767
>> Citations: http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=4Z5WABAAAAAJ
>> ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Roderic_Page
>>
>>
>> On 11 Dec
>>
2015, at 11:14, Ellinor Michel <e.michel at nhm.ac.uk<mailto:
>> e.michel at nhm.ac.uk><mailto:e.michel at nhm.ac.uk>>
>> wrote:
>>
>> [posted on behalf of
>> the primary author, Klaas-Douwe
'KD' B. Dijkstra]
>>
>> 'Dear colleagues,
>>
>> All
awareness, conservation
>> and
research of nature starts with the question: which
>> species is that? Names introduce
species to humanity. It’s
>> a
biologist’s greatest importance today, but just now
>> nature is under historic pressure,
such research is getting
>> less
support.
>>
>>
We aim to
>> expose this paradox by
naming 60 new dragonflies from
>>
Africa, increasing the number known by almost 10% at
once.
>> All are colourful and
conspicuous, representing some of the
>> most sensitive and beautiful of all
biodiversity:
>> freshwater, Earth’s
most dense and threatened species
>>
richness — Africa, the continent that will change most
in
>> the 21st century — and
dragonflies, the insects that may
>>
be among the best gauges of global change.
>>
>> We hope this
message will be
>> heard widely, so
please share this as you wish, e.g. on
>> blogs and to the local media,
particularly in Africa
>> itself.
>>
>> Press
release: https://goo.gl/KGMsyC
>> Info and images: https://goo.gl/vRoJSL
>> Full publication:
>>
www.osmylus.com/index.php/downloads<
>> http://www.osmylus.com/index.php/downloads><
>> http://www.osmylus.com/index.php/downloads><
>> http://www.osmylus.com/index.php/downloads>
>> Watch discovery of new species in DR
Congo:
>> youtu.be/Arr2k7dwzSU<http://youtu.be/Arr2k7dwzSU><
>> http://youtu.be/Arr2k7dwzSU><http://youtu.be/Arr2k7dwzSU>
>>
>> Best wishes,
also on behalf of
>> my co-authors
Jens and Nico, who have both made their
>> exceptional contributions in their
free time!
>>
>> Klaas-Douwe 'KD' B.
>> Dijkstra
>>
Naturalis Biodiversity Center,
>>
Leiden, The Netherlands
>>
Conservation Ecology
>> and
Entomology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
>> science.naturalis.nl/dijkstra<http://science.naturalis.nl/dijkstra><
>> http://science.naturalis.nl/dijkstra><http://science.naturalis.nl/dijkstra
>>
>> '
>>
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>>
>> Celebrating
28 years of
>> Taxacom in 2015.
>>
>>
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>> Celebrating
28 years of
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28 years of Taxacom in 2015.
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