[Taxacom] unflagged classification change question
Stephen Thorpe
stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz
Mon Jun 11 19:34:37 CDT 2018
Francisco said: Option C is also an option
"An option", certainly, but a bad one! By ignoring and not citing Smith, it looks like you have overlooked Smith's publication! Some people will think (erroneously, but nevertheless) that you have overlooked the "fact" that the "species" has been reinstated from synonymy! As a general rule, always cite anything that you disagree with!
The issue in zoology with combinations and synonyms is messy, compared with botany. I now much prefer the approach in botany. In botany, combinations and synonymies are formal nomenclatural acts which must be published according to the botanical code. It still doesn't mean that such acts have to be followed, but it makes it a lot easier to keep track of the different published options.
Stephen
--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 12/6/18, Francisco Welter-Schultes <fwelter at gwdg.de> wrote:
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] unflagged classification change question
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Received: Tuesday, 12 June, 2018, 12:26 PM
Option C is also an option. Your
reaction should depend on the
particular
significance and impact of Smith's publication.
I find myself in agreement with Mike and
Stephen.
Being classified
as a junior synonym of another name is not an official
status that a name has. Every classification is
always a subjective
judgement. Terms like
"new synonym" or "new combination" may
erroneously
suggest that we are dealing
with an official act. To avoid such
misunderstandings I usually do not recommend
employing such terms at
all. They are not
necessary and have the effect of blurring the
difference between nomenclature and
taxonomy.
If I place Canis lupus in the
genus Homo this will produce a name Homo
lupus. I do not know if somebody did that
before, published, unpublished
in a museum
catalog, or in the internet. Taxonomic treatments do not
need to be published. So actually I would not
be able to say for sure
that my idea was
new.
Francisco
-----
Francisco Welter-Schultes
Am 11.06.2018 um 23:06 schrieb Stephen
Thorpe:
> Hi Derek,
>
I'm deliberately answering your question before reading
the replies by others, so as to give you an independent
response.
> The obvious answer to your
question is simply to explain the situation in the
publication as you explained it in the Taxacom post and just
say that you consider the synonymy to be correct, so, in the
absence of any explanation by Smith for treating it again as
a valid species, you are continuing to treat it as a
synonym. Note that synonymy isn't a formal nomenclatural
act in zoology, so there is no sense in which Smith
"has made it a valid species again". It is simply
a valid species in his opinion, and although everyone is
entitled to their opinion, nobody is obliged to follow.
> I hope this helps (and I apologise in
advance for any repetition of what others may have
replied),
> Cheers,
>
Stephen
>
>
--------------------------------------------
> On Tue, 12/6/18, Derek Sikes <dssikes at alaska.edu>
wrote:
>
>
Subject: [Taxacom] unflagged classification change
question
> To: "taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu"
<Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
> Received: Tuesday, 12 June, 2018, 6:52
AM
>
> All,
>
> For those of
you who keep track of one
> or more
taxonomic classifications on
> which
you are an authority...
>
> I'd like to know how you'd
react to the
> following (all
too-realistic)
> hypothetical
scenario:
>
>
*You find a publication by Smith in
>
which a species name that you feel had
> been justifiably made a junior
synonym
> some years earlier, was
treated as a
> valid species with no
explanation for
> the change. *
>
> In the next
publication you produce on
> the group
do you:
>
> A)
list it as a valid species citing
>
Smith's publication
>
> B) re-synonymize it, cite Smith, and
> explain that there was no evidence
> offered by Smith for the change
>
> C) ignore
(don't cite) Smith and list
> it
as a junior synonym
>
> D) something else? (& for this
> hypothetical, imagine Smith recently
died)
>
>
Thanks,
> Derek
>
> --
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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>
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>
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>
> phone:
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>
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> - search 400,276
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>
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