Taxacom: a class of errors in Worms (and similar databases)

[David Campbell]

This illustrates that you really need someone who knows the taxonomy of a
group checking databases. In mollusks, there are a few non-binomial authors
whose genera got some use before being validated, as another example.

On Monday, February 24, 2025, Douglas Yanega via Taxacom <
taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:

> On 2/23/25 9:54 AM, Tony Rees via Taxacom wrote:
>
>> Dear Erikjan,
>>
>> I believe you are right. I cannot think of a circumstance where a species
>> name without parentheses in the authorship should have an earlier year
>> than
>> its containing genus, so that should be a sign that something is
>> incorrect.
>> My database (https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irmng.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C1c38abdae6034654d88608dd5517dd91%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638760285072301809%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C60000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=4rBtbfwOwi9wnp1Szo1FMC7TXssrsNioFVHE5pQ66G4%3D&reserved=0) has inherited a large number of
>> species
>> binomials from other systems, but they have not undergone rigorous
>> checking
>> in this respect and possibly never will, until we have resources to devote
>> to that task. But for other systems with more available editor effort,
>> this
>> could certainly be a consideration for auto-checking, I would say.
>>
>> Regards - Tony
>>
>
> There is at least one situation where this is possible: Article 11.9.3.1
> allows a species name to be made available even when the genus name it is
> combined with is not. So, if the first publication of a name (in toto) did
> not make the *genus* name available, but the *species* name was made
> available, then if someone later validated the exact same genus name, you
> CAN have a species name that is older than the genus, and yet not in
> parentheses.
>
> The comment later in the thread about there being a "blind spot" in BHL
> such that it will report occurrences of genus names prior to
> their recognized publication also runs into this same issue: genus names
> sometimes appear in print *before* they are made available. So, using the
> recognized date of a genus name as a cutoff would make it impossible to
> locate records of nomina nuda that preceded the availability of that same
> name.
>
> In entomology, these sorts of scenarios play out with some frequency,
> especially regarding works by certain authors (e.g., Dejean and Chevrolat).
>
> Peace,
>
> --
> Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314  voicemail:951-827-8704
> FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
>              https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffaculty.ucr.edu%2F~heraty%2Fyanega.html&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C1c38abdae6034654d88608dd5517dd91%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638760285072316845%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C60000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=EsNwBnXpTPrlAfcidUW0UZ%2FIiFpB6K5%2FfiKUxL7aEms%3D&reserved=0
>   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
>         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
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-- 
Dr. David Campbell
Professor, Geology
Department of Natural Sciences
110 S Main St, #7270
Gardner-Webb University
Boiling Springs NC 28017