Taxacom: building such a bridge (between DNA sequence and name) - was Minimalist revision of Mesochorus

[Derek Sikes]

Richard Pyle wrote "a mechanism for building such a bridge (between DNA
sequence and name) in a Code-enforceable way,..."

I would like to strongly endorse this notion!

An issue those who deal with DNA barcodes often face is one species
occurring in multiple 'BINs' (the Barcode of Life Datasystem (BOLD)
algorithm-generated proxy or "best guess" for 'species'). There are many
ways this can happen but the most interesting way is when multiple species
are 'hiding' under one species name. In such cases the question then arises
"OK, which one is the "real" species X?

I've repeatedly suggested to those running BOLD that it would be VERY
helpful to taxonomists if we could easily see in a BIN if there are any
specimens from the Type Locality or if any specimens in the BIN are the
primary type, etc. with some clear flagging or obvious declaration of some
sort. Currently, there is nothing other than access to the collection
localities via a map or data listing of the sequenced specimens.

So I'll reiterate the incredible value to the future of taxonomy if there
was some way to be much more certain than we normally are that THIS DNA
sequence belongs to THIS species name.

DNA-type specimens could be declared as a parallel typing system such that
a taxonomist states "I have determined this DNA-sequenced specimen is the
same species as that to which the primary type belongs, so I declare it the
DNA-type of the species."

If DNA can be obtained from the holotype then the holotype would be the
DNA-type, but if that is not possible, then the DNA-type would be a
different specimen.

This would help reduce massive amounts of confusion and ambiguity over how
to interpret DNA barcode data, which is growing at an enormous rate.

Derek




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*Derek S. Sikes*, Curator of Insects, Professor of Entomology
University of Alaska Museum (UAM), University of Alaska Fairbanks
1962 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, AK   99775-6960
dssikes at alaska.edu phone: 907-474-6278 he/him/his
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