[Taxacom] Higher taxa nomenclatural rules

[Stephen Thorpe]

Jibberish (and unnecessary)!

Merry Xmas

Stephen

--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 23/12/15, Alain Dubois <adbionomina at gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: [Taxacom] Higher taxa nomenclatural rules
 To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
 Received: Wednesday, 23 December, 2015, 10:37 PM
 
 Dear Colleagues,
 
 This is to inform you that the following paper was just
 published:
 
 Dubois, A. (2015) The Duplostensional Nomenclatural System
 for higher
 zoological nomenclature.
 Dumerilia, 5: 1-108.
 
 Abstract
 The almost complete absence in the Code of Rules for the
 nomenclature of higher zoological taxa is a severe nuisance
 for
 scientific communication about biodiversity and should
 urgently be
 remedied for. After a brief survey of previous proposals in
 this
 respect, a new system of class-series nomenclature is
 presented: the
 Duplostensional Nomenclatural System (DONS). Being
 ostensional
 and not intensional as some recently proposed alternative
 nomenclatural systems, DONS is compatible with the system of
 the
 Code for the nomina of taxa from the rank subspecies to the
 rank
 superfamily, although it differs from it in several
 respects,
 particularly in being monosemic and in not using the
 Principle of
 Coordination. This system proposes precise, automatic,
 universal
 and stringent Criteria for the nomenclatural availability of
 nomina,
 their nominal-series assignment, their taxonomic allocation,
 and
 their nomenclatural validity and correctness. It has
 several
 advantages over the other systems of higher nomenclature so
 far
 proposed, including three previous Ostensional
 Nomenclatural
 Systems (ONS). One of its particularities is that it uses
 two different
 systems of taxonomic allocation of nomina, one for
 well-known
 nomina and one for more obscure ones. This allows to
 maintain as
 valid the few really well-known higher zoological nomina
 (such as
 AVES, COLEOPTERA or MOLLUSCA), even when they were not the
 first ones to have been proposed for the taxa to which they
 apply or
 when these taxa are modified through the inclusion of more
 basal,
 often fossil, taxa. The other nomina follow simpler Criteria
 and
 require less work for their allocation and validation.
 Adoption by
 the international community of taxonomists of this system,
 with or
 without incorporation of these Criteria into the Code, would
 allow
 higher zoological nomenclature to abandon its current
 nonscientific
 practices based on arbitrariness, subjectivity and
 lobbying, and to be at last based on a clear, explicit,
 repeatable
 methodology that would allow non-ambiguous international
 communication about taxa. The use of the proposed Criteria
 is
 exemplified through a detailed analysis of the steps
 allowing to
 establish under DONS the valid nomina of the higher nomina
 of
 recent amphibians (frogs, salamanders and cecilians).
 
 Key words
 Biodiversity, scientific communication, taxonomy,
 nomenclature, higher
 taxa, Code, ostensional nomenclatural systems, Criteria,
 Principle of
 Coordination, monosemy, polysemy, availability, assignment,
 allocation,
 validity, priority, usage, homonymy, synonymy, correctness,
 amphibians
 
 
 This paper can be obtained through the website: http://dumerilia.wifeo.com/
 
 Merry Christmas and best wishes,
 
 Alain Dubois
 
 
 ____________________________________
 
 Professeur Alain Dubois
 Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
 Institut Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB) -
 UMR 7205
 Reptiles & Amphibiens
 CP 30
 25 rue Cuvier
 75005 Paris
 France
 
 emails: <adbionomina at gmail.com>,
 <adpeerj at gmail.com>,
 <adubois at mnhn.fr>
 
 Chief Editor, Bionomina
 <http://www.mapress.com/bionomina>
 
 Nomenclature Editor, Zootaxa
 <http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/>
 
 Academic Editor, PeerJ
 <https://peerj.com>
 ____________________________________
 
 “La culture ce n’est pas avoir le cerveau farci de
 dates, de noms ou de
 chiffres, c’est la qualité du jugement, l’exigence
 logique, l’appétit de la
 preuve, la notion de la complexité des choses et de
 l’arduité des
 problèmes. C’est l’habitude du doute, le discernement
 dans la méfiance, la
 modestie d’opinion, la patience d’ignorer, la certitude
 qu’on n’a jamais
 tout le vrai en partage; c’est avoir l’esprit ferme sans
 l’avoir rigide,
 c’est être armé contre le flou et aussi contre la fausse
 précision, c’est
 refuser tous les fanatismes et jusqu’à ceux qui
 s’autorisent de la raison;
 c’est suspecter les dogmatismes officiels mais sans profit
 pour les
 charlatans, c’est révérer le génie mais sans en faire
 une idole, c’est
 toujours préférer ce qui est à ce qu’on préférerait
 qui fût.”
 (Jean Rostand, Le droit d’être naturaliste, 1963).
 ____________________________________
 _______________________________________________
 Taxacom Mailing List
 Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
 http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
 The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be searched at: http://taxacom.markmail.org
 
 Celebrating 28 years of Taxacom in 2015.