[Taxacom] Describing taxa for conservation purposes

[kotatsu at fripost.org]

Hi all,

I recently came across this publication:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24750263.2020.1857852

In it, the authors "describe" a new subgenus for a species of North 
American squirrel (Tamiasciurus mearnsi). The driving force behind this 
seems to be that "Tamiasciurus" means "hoarder squirrel", and T. mearnsi 
doesn't hoard, so the genus name in inappropriate. They instead suggest 
"pseudotamias" (sic) as a subgenus (narrowly avoiding the already 
proposed Pseudotamia Stephens, 1829), despite also making clear that 
this species is "a descendant of T. douglasii, phylogenetically as well 
as biogeographically".

Another driving force behind this new subgenus appear to be for pure 
conservation reasons. The authors spend a lot of time complaining about 
how little funds are allocated to squirrel conservation in North America 
(only 0.00001% of GDP! and that is for all small mammals, not just 
squirrels!), and the hunting policies of North American squirrels. They 
conclude:
"Also, a wider structural change is needed in the approach of how 
taxonomy, research and conservation management are done for a more 
sustainable human-nature interaction."

This comes at the heels of this confused gem:
"Taxonomy as a field of study is rather complex and classifications 
remain widely disagreed upon and unclear. Often chaotically dominated by 
just a few players, institutions, and mindsets, this system leaves out 
the wider public. It is not sustainable, hardly meaningful, and 
certainly not scientific or democratic. This can be resolved by a more 
holistic classification system, including all 
species-/genera-interfering characteristics rather than only single ones 
(morphological appearance, genetical relations etc.). Additionally, 
increased budget assignments for small mammals, especially squirrels, 
can have a major impact on their conservation success. Higher law 
enforcement for hunting regulations can additionally strongly contribute 
to science-based management for these squirrels."
and a few tables where they show how "taxonomy and classification 
disputes exist and affect conservation efficiency", some of which 
examples seem to have no connection to taxonomy, and many of which do 
not reference any taxonomic or phylogenetic research more recent than 
the 1990s.

The part about how we should use a "holistic classification system, 
including all species-/genera-interfering characteristics" is 
particularly weird, as the only "characteristics" they use to establish 
this new subgenus are morphometrics (average body length and average 
body mass) and the differences in hoarding behaviour, while disregarding 
all genetic and other moprhological data.

This is a long and rambling paper, but the essence (as far as I can 
tell) is that the authors think that more money should be spent on 
conserving a squirrel (more than 0.00001% of GDP), and the best way to 
do so is to move it to a new subgenus. I assume this subgenus is also 
available from this publication, as they do include measurements that 
purportedly separate the type species from the other two species in the 
genus (which according to the sources they cite would the form  
paraphyletic nominate subgenus).

---

The same journal also published this:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/11250003.2014.895060

Abstract (in part):
"While we are fully aware of the high degree of arbitrariness of 
subspecific designations, it is also a fact that taxonomic recognition 
supports conservation, because subspecies are a legal category whereas 
other designations (such as evolutionarily significant units, ESUs) are 
not. We therefore argue that the Mesola red deer should be assigned to a 
subspecies of their own, and give an official description of Cervus 
elaphus italicus nova ssp., including the designation of a holo- and a 
paratype specimen."

They seem to make a much better argument than the first paper, but still 
base their decision to describe a new taxon partially on how this will 
make it easier to get funding for conservation work.

---

I am wondering, does anyone know more examples like this? Where 
conservation issues are driving or influencing taxonomic decisions?

-- 
Dr. Daniel R. Gustafsson, Research Assistant Professor
Institute of Zoology Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.

Ask me about chewing lice!