[Taxacom] taxonomic "vandalism?"

Fri Oct 6 09:49:37 CDT 2017

Now Wolfgang, to your second point.  As I  have followed this issue over 
the last few years, it was my undertanding that the "vandal" was taking 
published data and naming taxa that were shown in such things as 
phylogenies and distribution maps, and using them to name taxa that the 
original authors were intending to name with the same data.  What you 
describe is simply taxonomic insight leading to new names.  What you say 
is "Most" of what is done is what we all do - take a new look at data 
and describe the new stuff, where is the allegation of "theft" in 
this?   The fact that you say "some turn out to be the oldest available 
names when someone else later does the work leading to recognition of 
the taxon as valid" shows clearly that those taxonomic insights, at 
least, are later validated by reexamination of the data.    Being mad 
that someone got there first is just being ridiculous.

Everyone in our business is somewhere on the scale of perfect to 
terrible when it comes to creating synonyms.  I certainly have named 
things that turned out to be synonyms, but (so far) no one has called me 
a "vandal."

So, my original point was based on the apparent misunderstanding that 
this charge of "vandalism" was because of using published or publicized 
data that were going to be used for a later nomenclatural act to "scoop" 
the original authors.  This is immoral in my view, and against the 
Recommendations that follow the Code.  If this is not the case in the 
majority of cases, this is just a tempest in a teapot over a person who 
does not conform to our ideas of "best practices."

Mike

On 10/6/2017 1:16 AM, Wolfgang Wuster wrote:
>
> Two things:
>
>
> First, I don't think there is a neutral position here.
>
> To give an analogy: if I fall asleep in a public place with my wallet 
> lying unsecured next to me, then I am doing something very stupid. 
> However, if someone takes the wallet, criminal law would still 
> consider them a thief, with all the usual penalties. The Code would 
> let them keep the wallet. Neither of those is a neutral position.
>
>
> Second, I don't think it's fair to say that most of the contentious 
> descriptions are based on data carelessly left lying around by 
> herpetologists. Most of these "descriptions" were pre-emptive 
> and based on things like allopatric distributions in field 
> guides, mitochondrial phylogeographic studies (neither of which by 
> themselves justify new species descriptions) or weakly supported nodes 
> in major supermatrix phylogenies (for genera). Many of the resulting 
> names are of course just synonyms, but some turn out to be the oldest 
> available names when someone else later does the work leading to 
> recognition of the taxon as valid. In most of these cases, there is no 
> case to be made that earlier workers were negligent, or even overly 
> slow, in naming something: the name preceded the evidence.
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> Wolfgang
>
>
> -- 
> Dr. Wolfgang Wüster  -  Senior Lecturer
> School of Biological Sciences
> Bangor University
> Environment Centre Wales
> Bangor LL57  2UW
> Wales, UK
>
> Tel: +44 1248 382301
> Fax: +44 1248 382569
> E-mail: w.wuster at bangor.ac.uk
> http://mefgl.bangor.ac.uk/staff/wuster.php
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> on behalf of 
> Ivie, Michael <mivie at montana.edu>
> *Sent:* 06 October 2017 02:28
> *To:* Doug Yanega; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Taxacom] taxonomic "vandalism?"
>
> Not even close, Doug, what you quote out of context is not part of the 
> Code, see the intro to the Appendeces. The Code itself is neutral, and 
> applies equally to any situation, immoral or not.
>
> Mike
> __________________________________________________
> Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.
>
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> ________________________________________
> From: Taxacom [taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] on behalf of Doug 
> Yanega [dyanega at ucr.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, October 5, 2017 6:47 PM
> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] taxonomic "vandalism?"
>
> On 10/5/17 5:20 PM, Michael A. Ivie wrote:
> > Blaming the Code is equivalent to blaming the victim.  The Code is
> > equally available to both the "victim" and the "vandal."  It is
> > neutral and blameless.
> >
> Actually, no, the Code is not neutral about this; it does take a clear
> stance on this exact issue, in Appendix A:
>
> "2. A zoologist should not publish a new name if he or she has reason to
> believe that another person has already recognized the same taxon and
> intends to establish a name for it (or that the taxon is to be named in
> a posthumous work). A zoologist in such a position should communicate
> with the other person (or their representatives) and only feel free to
> establish a new name if that person has failed to do so in a reasonable
> period (not less than a year)."
>
> Stealing other's intellectual property may not make your name
> unavailable, but it DOES violate the explicit text of the Code, above.
> When we asked for opinions from the taxonomic community whether this
> passage and the others in Appendix A should be made part of the
> legislative text (e.g., replace the term "should not" with "must not",
> and make availability contingent upon compliance), we got a lukewarm
> response from a handful of people. Evidently, and counterintuitively,
> taxonomists don't care enough about intellectual property to WANT any
> rules protecting it (or, at least, not enough to write letters
> indicating their concern). Otherwise, they should have written letters
> to the Commission when we openly pleaded with them to do so, about this
> EXACT problem, just a few years ago.
>
> 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 
> <http://cache.ucr.edu/%7Eheraty/yanega.html>
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-- 
__________________________________________________

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

NOTE: two addresses with different Zip Codes depending on carriers

US Post Office Address:
Montana Entomology Collection
Marsh Labs, Room 50
PO Box 173145
Montana State University
Bozeman, MT 59717
USA

UPS, FedEx, DHL Address:
Montana Entomology Collection
Marsh Labs, Room 50
1911 West Lincoln Street
Montana State University
Bozeman, MT 59718
USA

(406) 994-4610 (voice)
(406) 994-6029 (FAX)
mivie at montana.edu