[Taxacom] Who should get the kudos?

Thu Jan 3 11:58:27 CST 2019

...though to be sure, the children may not have been (and probably
weren't) "collectors". The point here is that there is no formal
credit system for collecting specimens. So, we might as well use the
opportunity for a greater good whenever possible.

David

On Thu, Jan 3, 2019 at 12:54 PM Shorthouse, David
<davidpshorthouse at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> George -
>
> There is no better example than bestowing credit to collectors than
> this one: https://doi.org/10.3897/JHR.50.8220. Kudos to the team of
> taxonomists that honoured all the children involved. "The new species
> described...received patronyms based on the winners of a school child
> nature awareness competition conducted by the Programa de Educación
> Biológica de ACG in the last half of 2015".
>
> David
>
> On Thu, Jan 3, 2019 at 12:40 PM blaberus1 <g.beccaloni at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Perhaps I could ask: does anyone consider a collector to be the discoverer
> > of a species if the collector did not realise it was new to science? The
> > people I mentioned believe that it was Ali not Wallace who discovered
> > Semioptera wallacii.
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > George
> >
> > On Thu, 3 Jan 2019 at 16:29, John Grehan <calabar.john at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > George,
> > >
> > > In my experience for the group of my study species have sometimes been
> > > named for the collector, sometimes not. Seems to be a discretionary choice.
> > > There seems to be no necessity for the Semioptera to have been named after
> > > the collection. For the new species for which I have been involved with
> > > none of the collectors who brought material to the attention of myself or
> > > colleagues 'knew' in advance that they had a new species. I have found new
> > > species in other groups and it would be absurd to expect that the species
> > > should necessarily be named after me just because I found the specimens. I
> > > think your critics are unfamiliar with normal taxonomic practice. I'll be
> > > interested to what others on the list with broader experience have to say.
> > >
> > > John Grehan
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jan 3, 2019 at 11:18 AM blaberus1 <g.beccaloni at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >> 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
> > >> _______________________________________________
> > >> Taxacom Mailing List
> > >> Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> > >>
> > >> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> > >> The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be searched at:
> > >> http://taxacom.markmail.org
> > >> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the Web, visit:
> > >> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> > >> You can reach the person managing the list at:
> > >> taxacom-owner at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> > >>
> > >> Nurturing Nuance while Assaulting Ambiguity for 31 Some Years, 1987-2018.
> > >>
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Taxacom Mailing List
> > Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> >
> > http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> > The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be searched at: http://taxacom.markmail.org
> > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the Web, visit: http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> > You can reach the person managing the list at: taxacom-owner at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> >
> > Nurturing Nuance while Assaulting Ambiguity for 31 Some Years, 1987-2018.