[Taxacom] Taxonomic indexes (of congruence and resolving power) in order to compare different species delimitation methods...

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Dear Taxacomers,



We are glad to let you know the recent publication of the paper entitled:
" New Metrics for Comparison of Taxonomies Reveal Striking Discrepancies
among Species Delimitation Methods in *Madascincus* Lizards".

Key word: Taxonomy, Species delimitation, integrative taxonomy,
Herpetology, Madagascar.

In this paper, two new indexes are proposed to objectively compare
different alternative taxonomies hypothesized for a given group.
We have applied them on a group of Malagasy lizards for which different
species delimitation protocols have been tested.

The present study illustrates the trade-off in taxonomy between reliability
(favored by conservative approaches) and resolving power (favored by
inflationist approaches). Quantifying excessive splitting is more difficult
than quantifying

excessive lumping, suggesting a priority for conservative taxonomies in
which errors are more liable to be detected and corrected by subsequent
studies).



The paper is in open access this address:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0068242

Best regards,


 A. Miralles and M. Vences




-- 
*Aur?lien MIRALLES, PhD*
CNRS-UMR5175 CEFE
Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive
1919, route de Mende
34293 Montpellier cedex 5
website : http://amiralles.com/
mobile : (+33)(0)6 78 31 39 79