[Taxacom] Global counts of accepted genera

Thu Apr 2 01:05:48 CDT 2020

OK, we can do a small test om the first 40 reptile genera as held in this
version of IRMNG.

The names look like this (selected fields, as available in the data
download accompanying the "Megataxa" paper) after re-sorting by
"taxonomicStatus":
  (I have made an attempt to preserve the rows and columns as if it were
the original data table excerpt)

scientificName ... scientificNameAuthorship ... taxonomicStatus ... extant
status ... acceptedNameUsage ... parentNameUsage ... namePublishedIn

Aardonyx ... Yates, Bonnan, Neveling, Chinsamy & Blackbeard, 2010 ...
accepted ... fossil (only) ...  ... Anilioidea incertae sedis ... Article
title: A new transitional sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic
of South Africa and the evolution of sauropod feeding and quadrupedalism.
Abajudon ... Angielczyk, Huertas, Smith, Tabor, Sidor, Steyer, Tsuji &
Gostling, 2014 ... accepted ... fossil (only) ...  ... Anomodontia incertae
sedis ... Angielczyk, K. D.; Huertas, S.; Smith, R. M. H.; Tabor, N. J.;
Sidor, C. A.; Steyer, J.-S.; Tsuji, L. A.; Gostling, N. J. (2014). New
dicynodonts (Therapsida, Anomodontia) and updated tetrapod stratigraphy of
the Permian Ruhuhu Formation (Songea Group, Ru
Abastor ... Gray, 1849 ... accepted ... extant ...  ... Colubridae ... Cat.
Snakes Coll. B. M.
Abdalodon ... Kammerer, 2016 ... accepted ... fossil (only) ...  ...
Charassognathidae ... Kammerer, C. F. (2016). A new taxon of cynodont from
the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone (upper Permian) of South Africa, and the
early evolution of Cynodontia. <em>Papers in Palaeontology.</em> 2(3):
387-397.
Abelisaurus ... Bonaparte & Novas, 1985 ... accepted ... fossil (only) ...
 ... Abelisauridae ... Ameghiniana 21 (2-4)
Abilenea ... Wells, 2007 ... accepted ... extant ...  ... Pygopodidae ...
Australian Biodiversity Record 6
Ablabes ... Duméril, 1853 ... accepted ... extant ...  ... Colubridae ...
Mém. Acad. Sci. Inst. France, 23
Ablabophis ... Boulenger, 1893 ... accepted ... extant ...  ... Colubridae
... Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., 1
Ablepharus ... Fitzinger, 1823 ... accepted ... extant ...  ... Scincidae
... Ver. Doubl. Zool. Mus. Berlin
Abrictosaurus ... Hopson, 1975 ... accepted ... fossil (only) ...  ...
Heterodontosauridae ... S. Afr. J. Sci. 71
Abronia ... Gray, 1838 ... accepted ... extant ...  ... Anguidae ... Ann.
Mag. Nat. Hist., 1 (5)
Abydosaurus ... Chure, Britt, Whitlock & Wilson, 2010 ... accepted ...
fossil (only) ...  ... Brachiosauridae ... Article title: First complete
sauropod dinosaur skull from the Cretaceous of the Americas and the
evolution of sauropod dentition.
Abyssomedon ... MacDougall & Reisz, 2014 ... accepted ... fossil (only) ...
 ... Nyctiphruretidae ... MacDougall, M. J.; Reisz, R. R. (2014). The first
record of a nyctiphruretid parareptile from the Early Permian of North
America, with a discussion of parareptilian temporal fenestration.
<em>Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.</em> 172(3): 616-630
Acalyptophis ... Boulenger, 1896 ... accepted ... extant ...  ... Elapidae
... Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., 3
Acamptonectes ... Fischer, Maisch, Naish, Kosma, Liston, Joger, Krüger,
Pérez, Tainsh & Appleby, 2012 ... accepted ... fossil (only) ...  ...
Ophthalmosauridae ... Article title: New ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs from
the European Lower Cretaceous demonstrate extensive ichthyosaur survival
across the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary.
Acanthocercus ... Fitzinger, 1843 ... accepted ... extant ...  ... Agamidae
... Syst. Rept., 18
Acanthochelys ... Gray, 1873 ... accepted ... extant ...  ... Chelidae ...
Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (4) 11
Acanthodactylus ... Wiegmann, 1834 ... accepted ... extant ...  ...
Lacertidae ... Herp. Mex.
Acantholis ... Cocteau, 1836 ... accepted ... extant ...  ... Polychrotidae
... C. R. Acad. Sci. (Paris), 3
Acanthophis ... Daudin in Sonnini, 1803 ... accepted ... extant ...  ...
Elapidae ... in Sonnini, Suite à Buffon, Hist. Rept., 5
Acanthopholis ... Huxley, 1867 ... accepted ... fossil (only) ...  ...
Nodosauridae ... Geol. Mag., 4
Acanthosaura ... Gray, 1831 ... accepted ... extant ...  ... Agamidae ...
in Griffith-Cuvier, Anim. Kingd., 9, syn.
Abas ... Núñez & Yáñez, 1984 ... unaccepted ... extant ... Liolaemus ...
Tropiduridae ... Mus Nac Hist Nat Bol (Santiago) No. 40
Ablates ... Beddome, 1862 ... unaccepted ... extant ... Ablates ...
Colubridae ... Madras Quart. J. Med. Sci., 5, 12
Ablepharis ... Cocteau, 1832 ... unaccepted ... extant ... Ablepharus ...
Scincidae ... Magasin de Zool., 2, pl
Acalyptus ... Duméril, 1853 ... unaccepted ... extant ... Acalyptophis ...
Hydrophiidae ... Mém. Acad. Sci. Inst., France, 23
Acanthopis ... Gray, 1825 ... unaccepted ... extant ... Acanthophis ...
Elapidae ... Ann. Phil., [2] 10
Acantodactylus ...  ... unaccepted ... extant ... Acanthodactylus ...
Lacertidae ...
Acantophis ... Berthold in Latreille, 1827 ... unaccepted ... extant ...
Acanthophis ... Elapidae ... in Latreille, Nat. Fam. Thierr.
Abaculabronia ... Campbell & Frost, 1993 ... uncertain ... extant ...  ...
Anguidae ... Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 216,
September 3
Abelichnus ... Calvo, 1991 ... uncertain ... fossil (only) ...  ...
Archosauria (awaiting allocation) ... Ameghiniana 28 (3-4)
Acadiella ... Sues & Baird, 1998 ... uncertain ... fossil (only) ...  ...
Procolophonidae ... J Vertebr Paleontol 18 (3), 15 September
Acaenasuchus ... Long & Murry, 1995 ... uncertain ... fossil (only) ...
 ... Stagonolepididae ... Bull N M Mus Nat Hist Sci 4
Acallosuchus ... Long & Murry, 1995 ... uncertain ... fossil (only) ...
 ... Reptilia (awaiting allocation) ... Bull N M Mus Nat Hist Sci 4
Acanthocalyx ... Cope, 1895 ... uncertain ... extant ...  ... Reptilia
(awaiting allocation) ... Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. (N. S.) 18
Acanthophallus ... Cope, 1893 ... uncertain ... extant ...  ... Reptilia
(awaiting allocation) ... Amer. Nat., 27
Acanthopyga ... Gray, 1838 ... uncertain ... extant ...  ... Reptilia
(awaiting allocation) ... Ann. Nat. Hist., 1 (4)
Acanthotoposaurus ... Evans & van den Heever, 1987 ... uncertain ... fossil
(only) ...  ... Reptilia (awaiting allocation) ... S Afr J Sci 83 (11)
Acanthurus ... Daudin, 1803 ... uncertain ... extant ...  ... Reptilia
(awaiting allocation) ... Mag. Encyclop., An. 8, 5 (20)
Acerosodontosaurus ... Currie, 1980 ... uncertain ... fossil (only) ...
 ... Lepidosauria (awaiting allocation) ... Canadian J. Earth Sci. 17 (4)

So of these initial 40 names, we have 22 "accepted", 7 "unaccepted" (known
synonyms in the main), and 11 "uncertain", which split into 5 extant and 6
fossil. According to the protocol adopted for the "Megataxa" paper, we
would report the estimated (mean) total accepted names at 22+5.5 (half of
the "uncertain" total), rounded up to 28, with an uncertainty range
of +/-5.5 (rounded up to 6).

So to refine this estimate (effectively of somewhere between 22 and 33
accepted names), we need additional information on the 11 "uncertain" names
which I do not have to hand at this time, but may take a look as I have a
little time - or someone else can :)  The same someone, or another, might
also care to comment whether the names flagged "accepted" / "unaccepted"
are correctly so, as well.

 Also of interest to note, of the 22 names listed as "accepted", 9 (41%)
are fossil, which is not that far from the overall value (48.9%) given for
all accepted names in Reptilia in the paper (around 4,000 accepted names).

Anyway this shows how the totals are computed for the values given in the
"Megataxa" paper. Of course some of the IRMNG data may be in error, happy
to receive any advice of that as well, but hopefully any residual errors
are not large...

I may post again after further examining the 11 presently "uncertain" names
in this sample.

Regards - Tony

On Thu, 2 Apr 2020 at 13:49, Tony Rees <tonyrees49 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Also noting that Reptilia has quite a high fossil component - 48.9% (not
> including "uncertain" names), as compared with around 21% across all
> groups. If the "uncertain" names are included, the percentage may well be
> higher.
>
> - Tony
>
> On Thu, 2 Apr 2020 at 13:45, Tony Rees <tonyrees49 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Peter, thanks for your comment...
>>
>> Presently IRMNG has 3,973 genus names in Reptilia (NB without Aves)
>> listed as "accepted", both extant and fossil, plus a further 3,486 listed
>> as "uncertain" (not yet researched). This gives a range for eventual
>> "accepted" of between 3,973 (no "uncertain" names accepted) and 7,459 (all
>> "uncertain" names accepted), mean value 5,716. This is the figure we quote
>> in the paper, with an uncertainty range +/- 1,743 (half of the "uncertain"
>> names). One take on your comment is that a larger percentage than half of
>> the "uncertain" names may turn out to be unaccepted (synonyms,
>> misspellings. etc.) but that cannot be ascertained without additional
>> research... The data (full set of names and associated statuses) are
>> provided if anyone would like to look into this, i.e. refine the estimate
>> further. From experience with other groups the "uncertain" names often do
>> split around 50:50 between accepted names and synonyms, but for Reptilia
>> that may not be the case. I (or anyone) can use the IRMNG "advanced search"
>> interface to see how many of the "uncertain" names are presently listed as
>> fossil; that might illuminate the issue further... I will do this in a
>> little while and report back, if you like.
>>
>> Regards - Tony
>>
>> Tony Rees, New South Wales, Australia
>> https://about.me/TonyRees
>>
>>
>> On Thu, 2 Apr 2020 at 13:00, Peter Uetz via Taxacom <
>> taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Rees et al. come up with a mean estimate of 5,716 reptilian genera
>>> (including birds),
>>> which is a 1.65-fold overestimate of the 3459 reptilian genera in
>>> Avibase and the Reptile Database (2265 bird + 1194 reptile genera).
>>>
>>> These two groups are a well-studied sample (about 11,000 species each)
>>> with a third of all vertebrates,
>>> hence I would conclude that Tony’s estimate is clearly quite a bit over
>>> the actual number
>>> (even when considering his estimate of ~21% of genus names being fossil).
>>>
>>> Just saying …
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> >> ----- Original Message -----
>>> >> From: "Tony Rees via Taxacom" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu <mailto:
>>> taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>>
>>> >> To: "taxacom" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu <mailto:
>>> taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>>; "Tony Rees"
>>> >> <tonyrees49 at gmail.com <mailto:tonyrees49 at gmail.com>>
>>> >> Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2020 4:40 AM
>>> >> Subject: [Taxacom] Global counts of accepted genera
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >>> Dear Taxacomers,
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Have you ever wondered how many genus names for accepted taxa have
>>> been
>>> >>> published, broken down by taxonomic group? and/or "all names",
>>> synonyms
>>> >>> (sensu lato) included (together with the actual lists of names as a
>>> >>> downloadable file) - well, the following newly published paper in the
>>> >>> journal "Megataxa" goes some way to answering these questions:
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Rees et al., 2020: "All genera of the world: an overview and
>>> estimates
>>> >>> based on the March 2020 release of the Interim Register of Marine and
>>> >>> Nonmarine Genera (IRMNG)"
>>> >>> https://www.mapress.com/j/mt/article/view/megataxa.1.2.3 <
>>> https://www.mapress.com/j/mt/article/view/megataxa.1.2.3>
>>> >>>
>>> >>> In case this is of interest, in the present "interesting" times...
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Regards to all - Tony
>>> >>> Tony Rees, New South Wales, Australia
>>> >>> https://about.me/TonyRees
>>>
>>>
>>> ————————————————————————————————————
>>> Peter Uetz
>>> Center for Biological Data Science (CeBiDaS)
>>> (formerly Center for the Study of Biological Complexity)
>>> Virginia Commonwealth University
>>> Richmond, VA 23284
>>> USA
>>>
>>> Reptile Database (http://www.reptile-database.org <
>>> http://www.reptile-database.org/>)
>>> http://people.vcu.edu/~uetz/ <http://people.vcu.edu/~uetz/>
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>>>
>>