[Taxacom] Homo sapiens

[Michael A. Ivie]

People keep harping on the type issue in humans (this is far more 
widespread than Stephen, he just raised it this time).  There is no 
issue.  There is no extant type, if there ever was one, and because 
there is no nomenclatural confusion to address, no neotype can be 
established.  There is no requirement that a type exist for a 1758 
species with no confusion.  End of story.

Mike

On 1/13/2016 4:33 PM, Stephen Thorpe wrote:
> Also, given that (fossils aside) there is little difficulty in recognising Homo sapiens, it isn't a priority for redescription! The nomenclature remains problematic in some ways though, particularly the thorny issue of what, if anything is or can be the primary type.
>
> Stephen
>
> --------------------------------------------
> On Thu, 14/1/16, Doug Yanega <dyanega at ucr.edu> wrote:
>
>   Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Homo sapiens
>   To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>   Received: Thursday, 14 January, 2016, 12:18 PM
>   
>   On 1/13/16 3:04 PM,
>   Thomas McCabe wrote:
>   > More recent
>   publications of
>   > primate taxonomy in
>   English available to me refer to Linneaus’ definition.
>   > Can anyone direct me to a more recent
>   formal revision?
>   >
>   Most
>   species, including our own, have no "formal"
>   description outside of
>   the original
>   description. Given that we've only got descriptions for
>   
>   fewer than 2 million of the 10-50 million
>   extant species, we've got a
>   lot of work
>   yet to do before we can go around re-describing things a
>   second time. ;-)
>   
>   That being said, if you were to examine the
>   descriptions, in the
>   paleonotological
>   literature, of *other species* in the genus Homo, you
>   are likely to find that when those other
>   species are diagnosed, the
>   authors may have
>   listed certain features in explicit contrast with the
>   same features as they appear in H. sapiens -
>   you could accumulate a
>   number of formal
>   characters used to recognize H. sapiens, in this manner.
>   
>   Sincerely,
>   
>   --
>   Doug Yanega      Dept.
>   of Entomology       Entomology Research
>   Museum
>   Univ. of California, Riverside, CA
>   92521-0314     skype: dyanega
>   phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are
>   mine, not UCR's)
>                 http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
>      "There are some enterprises
>   in which a careful disorderliness
>        
>      is the true method" - Herman Melville,
>   Moby Dick, Chap. 82
>   
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-- 
__________________________________________________

Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.

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