Taxacom: Opinion paper today in ZooKeys about turbotaxonomy, proposing alternative ways to do it, and commenting on the Sharkey et al. 2021 paper

[Fernandez, Jose]

Hi everyone,

Today it was published in ZooKeys a paper of mine about turbotaxonomy and also addressing the relatively recent, controversial paper from Sharkey et al. (2021). The link is here: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fzookeys.pensoft.net%2Farticle%2F76720%2F&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C86377bbad50f4a3888f808d9f88fa44f%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637814119280119598%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000&sdata=CiMfI7YuLZDgW074Pl3n1lg5kC0UMt2MMOwY8UQP%2Bpc%3D&reserved=0.

This is not just another paper criticizing Sharkey approach, but rather trying to offer alternatives (kind of middle of the road) to the need of speeding up taxonomy while also preserving the practicality and usefulness of the taxonomic works produced. My paper includes suggestions to produce fast-paced works in a different way than that proposed by Sharkey et al. It even includes some time calculations (for the different tasks to be performed) and some general guidelines. I prepared that mostly based on my own experience working on large taxonomic revisions of Braconidae, but with the hope to engage the wider community (beyond braconid wasps) in more dialogue about future efforts. In that sense, I encourage the reader to check the supplementary appendix, where I posted (with permission from the reviewers) the reviews done to the paper, to show different opinions than mine on the topic (sometimes even contradictory to my ideas). Because I do not pretend to have a better insight than anyone else but would rather welcome discussing further with any interested colleague ways to make such approaches better and more useful.

Cheers,
Jose

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José L. Fernández-Triana, Ph.D.
Research Scientist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Canadian National Collection of Insects (CNC)
960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C6, CANADA
Phone: 613-759-1034. Email: jose.fernandez at canada.ca<mailto:jose.fernandez at canada.ca>
Alternative email : cnc.braconidae at gmail.com<mailto:cnc.braconidae at gmail.com>