[Taxacom] Who should get the kudos?

[Jean Mariaux]

Clearly a discretionary option. Nothing wrong with that, but in all the
groups I know, naming a taxon after its collector is an uncommon practice.
Jean

Prof Jean Mariaux
Curator, Dpt of Invertebrates
T. +41 22 418 6343
F. +41 22 418 6301
jean.mariaux at ville-ge.ch
mariauxj at gmail.com
Muséum d'histoire naturelle (MHN)
Département de la culture et du sport
route de Malagnou 1
1208 Genève - Switzerland
www. <http://www.ville-ge.ch/mhng>museum-geneve.ch
orcid.org/0000-0002-9601-855X
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Le jeu. 3 janv. 2019 à 17:18, blaberus1 <g.beccaloni at gmail.com> a écrit :

> I have been debating with historians of science and others for a while now
> about who discovered Semioptera wallacii (Standardwing Bird of Paradise): –
> was it Alfred Russel Wallace or his assistant Ali? They are arguing it was
> Ali as he shot the first specimen – and they believe it is a great
> injustice it was named after Wallace (in fact I have been called “racist”
> for arguing against this point of view!).
>
>
>
> Wallace wrote in his book *The Malay Archipelago* “Just as I got home I
> overtook Ali returning from shooting with some birds hanging from his belt.
> He seemed much pleased, and said, "Look here, sir, what a curious bird,"
> holding out what at first completely puzzled me. I saw a bird with a mass
> of splendid green feathers on its breast, elongated into two glittering
> tufts; but, what I could not understand was a pair of long white feathers,
> which stuck straight out from each shoulder. Ali assured me that the bird
> stuck them out this way itself, when fluttering its wings, and that they
> had remained so without his touching them. I now saw that I had got a great
> prize, no less than a completely new form of the Bird of Paradise,
> differing most remarkably from every other known bird.”
>
>
>
> As a taxonomist my argument is that while Ali collected the first specimen
> he did not know it was a species new to Western taxonomy. We are talking
> about species new to SCIENCE, not simply new to Ali. Unlike Wallace, Ali
> was illiterate and was not a biologist/taxonomist. Wallace, however, thanks
> to his in-depth knowledge of the birds of the region, immediately
> recognised that it was a new species. He excitedly wrote to his agent
> Stevens:
>
>
>
> "...I believe I have already the finest & most wonderful bird in the island
> [Bacan, Indonesia]. I had a good mind to keep it a secret but I cannot
> resist telling you, I have got here a new Bird of Paradise!! of a new
> genus!!! quite unlike anything yet known, very curious & very handsome!!!
> When I can get a couple of pairs I will send them overland to see what a
> new Bird of Paradise will really fetch. I expect £25 each! Had I seen the
> bird in Ternate I would never have believed it came from here, so far out
> of the hitherto supposed region of the Paradiseidae. I consider it the
> greatest discovery I have yet made..." (Wallace, 1858)
>
>
>
> So Wallace clearly thought HE had discovered it.
>
>
>
> The species was named in Wallace’s honour by Gray in 1859 -
>
> http://wallace-online.org/content/frameset?pageseq=1&itemID=WSPEC017&viewtype=text
> based on a sketch which Wallace had sent.
>
>
>
> So my argument is that simply collecting a new species does not mean you
> discovered it – even if it is new to you personally. The discoverer is the
> person who realises it is a species not yet named by taxonomists. What do
> you think?
>
>
>
> Incidentally, I note that none of 10 randomly selected species of
> cockroaches described in the last 10 years were named after the collectors
> of the holotypes of these species. Their names were, however, mentioned in
> the species descriptions, so they were credited for their efforts. Perhaps,
> however, some taxonomists do regularly name species after their collectors?
> Does anyone know whether this practice is commonly followed by taxonomists
> of particular groups?
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
> George Beccaloni
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