Taxacom: Abbreviations in species descriptions

[Fernandez, Jose]

Common sense would indicate that one should present in the paper details of the abbreviations used (usually in the methods, as Bob has wisely indicated) and then it is perfectly fine to use them in the descriptions. What I find silly (apologies if someone is offended by that!) is that a paper uses ANY abbreviation (be it a measurement or anything else) without detailing what it means the first time it appears in the text, or by only referring to another paper. The excuse that "abbreviation X" is widely known overlooks that in different languages, papers or schools of taxonomy there could be different spellings of the same term... It is so easy to clearly state in the paper what you would be using and it would take such a short time, that I find inexcusable not doing so.

Cheers,
Jose

--
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 
Alternative email : cnc.braconidae at gmail.com

  
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> On Behalf Of Robert Zuparko via Taxacom
Sent: May 25, 2022 6:37 PM
To: Peter Uetz <peter at uetz.us>
Cc: TAXACOM <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
Subject: Re: Taxacom: Abbreviations in species descriptions

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
ATTENTION: Ce courriel provient de l’extérieur de l’organisation. Ne cliquez pas sur les liens et n’ouvrez pas les pièces jointes à moins que vous ne reconnaissiez l’expéditeur et que vous sachiez que le contenu est sûr.

Abbreviations are commonly used in insect descriptions as well. But often (in the methods section) a key to the abbreviations is presented.


On Wed, May 25, 2022 at 2:32 PM Peter Uetz via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
wrote:

>
> A lot of recent species descriptions, at least in reptiles, use a 
> variety of abbreviations.
> I wonder how common that is in other taxonomic groups, and more 
> importantly, if there are any (published) standards for such abbreviations.
>
> For instance, in reptiles, common abbreviations include SVL (for 
> snout-vent length) but there seems only limited agreement on others, 
> e.g. for snout length people have used SL or SnL, or more precisely 
> eye-to-snout-distance (ESD) = snout-to-eye-distance (SE), etc.
> Of course, SL can actually can also mean other things, such as 
> supralabial scale (count) etc.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> ————————————————————————————————————
> Peter Uetz
> Center for Biological Data Science
> Virginia Commonwealth University
> Richmond, VA 23284
> USA
>
> Reptile Database (
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.r%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C7a77446639c74284031d08da3f4ab524%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637891887351784890%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=AHgkjyEl07beaggF7htg4SbfwAqBTm0WaWXA8ssn2AE%3D&reserved=0
> eptile-database.org%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cad8
> d7c1bdb3443f078bd08da3e9f0feb%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7
> C0%7C637891150132372847%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLC
> JQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata
> =unBn7uB1LLb%2F85CImPxMZHBDwowpyIx5k%2BgwDbJOFSA%3D&reserved=0
> <
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.r%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C7a77446639c74284031d08da3f4ab524%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637891887351784890%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=AHgkjyEl07beaggF7htg4SbfwAqBTm0WaWXA8ssn2AE%3D&reserved=0
> eptile-database.org%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cad8
> d7c1bdb3443f078bd08da3e9f0feb%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7
> C0%7C637891150132372847%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLC
> JQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata
> =unBn7uB1LLb%2F85CImPxMZHBDwowpyIx5k%2BgwDbJOFSA%3D&reserved=0
> >)
>
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fuetz.
> info%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cad8d7c1bdb3443f078
> bd08da3e9f0feb%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C6378911501
> 32372847%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiL
> CJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=BuQZ%2FRQovl6R
> WDtjl004fI1gqL17C0CFdyTt2Cvta84%3D&reserved=0
> <
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fuetz.
> info%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cad8d7c1bdb3443f078
> bd08da3e9f0feb%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C6378911501
> 32372847%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiL
> CJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=BuQZ%2FRQovl6R
> WDtjl004fI1gqL17C0CFdyTt2Cvta84%3D&reserved=0
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom Mailing List
>
> Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu For 
> list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
> https://lists.ku.edu/listinfo/taxacom
> You can reach the person managing the list at: 
> taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu The Taxacom email archive back to 1992 can be searched at:
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftaxa
> com.markmail.org%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cad8d7c
> 1bdb3443f078bd08da3e9f0feb%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%
> 7C637891150132372847%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQI
> joiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=NE
> klE6YYKYfLP2jVRl2BOrs7VQtD1FVXJKDNa9cUzg4%3D&reserved=0
>
> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for about 35 years, 1987-2022.
>
 Abbreviations are quite common in insect descriptions. But a list of the abbreviations is presented in the methods section, which should assist anyone not familiar with the group.

--
Robert Zuparko
Essig Museum of Entomology
1101 Valley Life Sciences Building, #4780 University of California Berkeley, CA 94720-3112
(510) 643-0804

It's not a fetish. When a scientist does it, it's an "area of interest." Ze Frank, True Facts _______________________________________________
Taxacom Mailing List

Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu For list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.ku.edu/listinfo/taxacom
You can reach the person managing the list at: taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu The Taxacom email archive back to 1992 can be searched at: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftaxacom.markmail.org%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C7a77446639c74284031d08da3f4ab524%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637891887351784890%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=DfoI7IXNuj3qFBddJPKBkeyrxL6Ll%2FIDppqBASsoHhk%3D&reserved=0

Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for about 35 years, 1987-2022.