[Taxacom] New species descriptions based on only 1 specimen

Wed Oct 1 01:51:48 CDT 2008

Dear all,

I am somewhat surprised to see that nobody have 
suggested the solution to describe the material 
(i.e. the single specimen that may represent new 
species) in the publication without assigning a 
formal name to it. That would certainly have been 
the solution I had gone for in a case like this, 
and I have done so repeatedly in my own work. 
Doing like that you get the advantage that the 
presumed new taxa get known such that they may be 
sought for and "recognized" by subsequent 
workers, but still avoid  handing ower the often 
frustrating and not-very-meaningfull task of 
re-evaluting those single-specimen-taxa to future 
workers. I have several times handled such 
presumbly new but unnamed single-specimen-taxa 
together with allready described (i.e. named) 
single-specimen, or even single-locality, taxa 
under the heading "Insufficiently known taxa" in 
various monographs. This simply because I think 
it is often only waste of time to try to revise 
such taxa as long as no additional material have 
become available through subseuent collections. 
There will always be single abberant specimen, or 
even small local populations (depending on the 
mode of reproduction of the organism concerned), 
some of which may be so strange that every expert 
will think they represent new species, but 
certainly many of them will never be refound, and 
as long as they are only known from one specimen 
or gathering I don't think there is a real need 
for having a name for them. Don't forget that the 
real aim of putting names on taxa is to 
facilitate communication about them, but single 
specimens may as easily be referred to (i.e. 
communicated) by their collection number or alike!

/ Torbjörn Tyler

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>If we view names as a way to "red-flag" a 
>putative clade/species, then it seems best to 
>name it, if you know the "known" or published 
>diversity in the parent clade/genus .  Then 
>others (ecologists, population biologists) can 
>realize a need to examine the new putative 
>species (i.e. test your hypothesis).
>
>Zack Murrell
>
>Jean-Michel Maes wrote:
>>Hi,
>>
>>Difficult to answer by yes or no. In theory, it's not a good idea to
>>describe a species on 1 specimen. But... In the case of a revision, better
>>to describe the species available, even if there is only one specimen, so
>>all species are available to play with. Another person can find the way to
>>rear the species or to collect more and confirm the validity of the species
>>or put it as a synonym of another species. I know it's not an election, but
>>my vote would be to describe the species, even on an orphan specimen.
>>
>>Sincerely,
>>
>>Jean-Michel.
>>
>>Dr. Jean-Michel MAES
>>MUSEO ENTOMOLOGICO
>>AP 527
>>LEON
>>NICARAGUA
>>tel 505-3116586
>>cel 505-48-11-351
>>jmmaes at ibw.com.ni
>>jmmaes at bio-nica.info
>>jmmaes at yahoo.com
>>jmmaes at walla.com
>>
>>www.bio-nica.info (main page in spanish)
>>http://360.yahoo.com/jmmaes
>>http://www.ibw.com.ni/u/jmmaes (pequeña pagina de contacto)
>>http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/MEL-Info/ (lista de anuncios - puede
>>inscribirse si le parece)
>>www.avesnicaragua.org (aves)
>>http://www.coleoptera.org/p1760.htm (Lucanidae genera)
>>
>>Save a tree. Do not print this message if not really necessary
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Geoff Read" <g.read at niwa.co.nz>
>>To: <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
>>Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 5:10 PM
>>Subject: Re: [Taxacom] New species descriptions based on only 1 specimen
>>
>>
>>>>>>On 1/10/2008 at 8:17 a.m., Steve Lingafelter
>>>>>>
>>><steve.lingafelter at ars.usda.gov>
>>>wrote:
>>>
>>>>Hi Taxacomers,
>>>>I realize this is a tired debate, but nevertheless...
>>>>
>>>>I'm interested in some current opinions.  I am at the final stages of
>>>>
>>>data
>>>
>>>>collection for a field guide to Dominican Republic
>>>>
>>>Cerambycidae...however,
>>>
>>>>I've got a handful of very charismatic new species which are sadly,
>>>>
>>>after 10
>>>
>>>>expeditions (4 by our group; several by Carnegie Museum and
>>>>
>>>Harvard),
>>>
>>>>represented by only 1 specimen each.
>>>>
>>>>I want to describe them and have them available for the field guide
>>>>
>>>but I
>>>
>>>>realize this is not an ideal situation (and I believe not accepted by
>>>>
>>>some
>>>
>>>>journals).  Am I making a mountain out of a mole-hill, and should I
>>>>
>>>just
>>>
>>>>describe the darned things?
>>>>
>>>>What would you do?
>>>>
>>>No, it's certainly not mountain out of mole-hill. It's a serious issue.
>>>I wouldn't never do it, but best avoided in annelids, the group I work
>>>with, because of meristic and developmental changes, and also noting the
>>>difficulty of borrowing a holotype with no paratype. Also there is the
>>>possibility a strange individual is a teratology and not new at all.
>>>Incomplete tail-less specimens are a particular problem for later
>>>workers when described - as has been done frequently, but against that
>>>there are families in which complete individuals from offshore benthos
>>>are almost never collected - can't just ignore a whole family.
>>>
>>>Here's a paper discussing species description standards which inter
>>>alia addresses the single specimen problem:
>>>
>>>Màkol, J. ; GabryÊ, G. 2005:  Intuition or fixed criteria - about
>>>standards in species description.  Genus 16(4): 503-511.
>>>
>>>http://www.biol.uni.wroc.pl/cassidae/Fixed%20criteria.pdf
>>>
>>>Geoff
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>
>>>  Geoff Read <g.read at niwa.co.nz>
>>>    http://www.annelida.net/
>>>   http://www.niwascience.co.nz/ncabb/
>>>
>>>
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>>>Taxacom mailing list
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>>>
>>
>>
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>
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-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Torbjörn Tyler, Ph.D,

- Curator at herbarium LD.
- Editor in Chief of Nordic Journal of Botany.
- Deputy secretary of Lund Botanical Society, 
with special responsibility for Projekt Skånes 
Mossor.
- Responsible for the project The Hieracia of Sweden.

Botanical Museum
Ö. Vallgatan 18
SE-223 61 Lund

tel. +(0)46-222 89 65

e-mail: torbjorn.tyler at botmus.lu.se

Private address: Bredgatan 12B, SE-243 32 Höör (=Hoeoer), tel. +(0)413-23123.
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