Taxacom: published names without description

Tue Dec 10 04:45:12 CST 2024

Perhaps there should be a standard note to inform a publisher when such problems occur. And a standard way to inform the code folks of such occurrences so that the note could go from that body?  My understanding is that, many publishers, once made aware of the problem, will ask authors to make sure new names are published in accordance with the applicable code. Of course, a user-friendly version of key requirements would be wonderful to make available. This would be true for any nomenclatural code.
________________________________
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> on behalf of Thomas Pape via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 9, 2024 4:57 PM
To: taxacom at lists.ku.edu <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
Subject: Re: Taxacom: published names without description

>>> remarkable how often authors trying to publish new taxa fail to comply with all the requirements

I share this impression, and although I cannot back this up with real numbers it is easy to point to recent examples:

The giant hummingbird Patagona chaski Williamson et al., 2024: name failed to comply when originally published in PNAS.
The viper Ovophis malhotrae Zeng et al., 2023: name failed to comply when originally published in Zoologica Scripta.
The conger eel Smithconger Carnevale et al., 2022: name failed to comply when originally published in Bull. Geol. Soc. Denmark.

This happens more than ten years after an amendment to the zoological Code was published to allow new names and nomenclatural acts to be available from PDF-based scientific works. Maybe the requirements were too strict; or maybe the ICZN didn't disseminate the requirements well enough?
--- or maybe it is time to consider how to deliver nomenclatural data (and establish formal availability) in a digital world with constantly changing information systems?

David Ride, a former ICZN President, suggested in the Introduction to the current edition of the zoological Code, that perhaps ?the solution will not lie in patching up a definition of publication but, rather, in scrapping it and finding a means of replacing ?publication? as a primary determinant of availability? (Ride 1999). This certainly was a bold suggestion, but I am convinced that a requirement of mandatory registration of new names will have more (many more) advantages than drawbacks. With more of the Code compliance moved to an online Registry, we can more efficiently ensure that all relevant details are provided and made public.

/Thomas

-----Original Message-----
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> On Behalf Of Luis Ruedas via Taxacom
Sent: 9. december 2024 20:44
To: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
Subject: Re: Taxacom: published names without description

There *is* a handy how to guide...

On Mon, Dec 9, 2024 at 11:34?AM Douglas Yanega via Taxacom < taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:

> As of the 2000 Edition of the Code (Code 4) there are more criteria
> that need to be met for a new name to be available than was true in
> earlier Code versions.
>
> (1) It must be *published* in the sense of the Code. With print pubs
> this is generally easily met, for e-only publications the requirements
> are very stringent and complicated.
>
> (2) Names for new families *must* designate a type genus, new genera
> must designate a type species, new species must designate a type specimen.
>
> (3) There must be an *explicit statement* that the names are new, and
> they must be proposed as available names of subspecies or higher rank,
> not synonyms, morphs, or varieties, or as "conditional" names.
>
> (4) proposals of new taxa must include a *verbal description* of their
> diagnostic feature(s).
>
> (5) for new species, the *name and location* of the depository of the
> type specimen must be given.
>
> While these provisions are excellent at preventing "accidental"
> introduction of new names (such as in a meeting abstract) it's pretty
> remarkable how often authors trying to publish new taxa fail to comply
> with all the requirements. In just the past year, I've seen examples
> of works failing each one of the criteria above, sometimes more than one.
>
> 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%7C795d1c585b384ad1dcc608dd1907bb8a%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638694243202230583%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2FUrF5YkJ3XYkJDRVfOtyQbiM1VAn6y6yHZKLAvGZKN0%3D&reserved=0
>    "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
>          is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom Mailing List
>
> Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu For
> list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
> https://list/
> s.ku.edu%2Flistinfo%2Ftaxacom&data=05%7C02%7Ctpape%40snm.ku.dk%7C711ec
> cffca1a432f4d6d08dd1889f8e6%7Ca3927f91cda14696af898c9f1ceffa91%7C0%7C0
> %7C638693703065855258%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUs
> IlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7
> C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=0DuC1Zns0TCK0wrVnMv5BgEDjMWUXYcAtljzUh77XLE%3D&reser
> ved=0 You can reach the person managing the list at:
> taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu
>
> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for 37 years, 1987-2024.
>
>

--

Luis A. Ruedas, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of Biology
Portland State University
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fluisruedas1.github.io%2FLuis_Ruedas%2Findex.html&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C795d1c585b384ad1dcc608dd1907bb8a%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638694243202249100%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=7DzKAsYTu6wiZRcmpE711lUhF%2BRFWqyUOiAGtrBjiCM%3D&reserved=0
_______________________________________________
Taxacom Mailing List

Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu For list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.ku.edu/listinfo/taxacom
You can reach the person managing the list at: taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu

Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for 37 years, 1987-2024.

_______________________________________________
Taxacom Mailing List

Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
For list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.ku.edu/listinfo/taxacom
You can reach the person managing the list at: taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu

Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for 37 years, 1987-2024.