describing new spp in tabular form

[Barry M. OConnor]

At 6:14 PM 1/3/98, Buz Wilson wrote:

 A simpler approach (for DELTA users anyway) might be
>publishing the DELTA scorings in an appendix preceded by the key to the
>scorings
>(the character list).    New species names in the main text would be
>accompanied by *short, useful* diagnoses and appropriate illustrations.
>This is not a new idea, I suspect.
>
>Any howls of horror at this suggestion, or Dr Quicke's, out there?
>
In the 1960's Paul Vercammen-Grandjean developed his "Synthetic
Identification Formula" (=SIF) for chigger mites.  For example, the SIF for
Trombicula minor is:  "5B or 6B - B/N-3/2 2/3 111.0/1 ooo"
(Vercammen-Grandean, 1968).  The SIF was then followed by unique
characteristics of the taxon in paragraph form.  In some major monographs,
the SIF was explained in the introduction, but in most of his papers, it
isn't, so one needs to have access to other literature in order to
interpret the characters and states.  I suppose this is useful for anyone
completely familiar with the group, but it made getting into this
literature a bit daunting.

Barry M. OConnor                phone: (734) 763-4354
Museum of Zoology               FAX: (734) 763-4080
University of Michigan          e-mail: bmoc at umich.edu
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079  USA