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[Torbjörn Tyler]

Sure, recognizing (new) species  always comes down to a judgement, but to make a scientific judgement (i.e. to propose a hypothesis) you'll need some data to judge from. In general, to propose hypotheses without sufficient data, at least in biology, aren't considered scientifically sound. I guess that whether or not a single specimen may be considered as sufficient data depends somewhat on what kind of organism you are working with, how much within and between species variation there usually is in that organism group, how often singe abberrant specimen or mutants are encountered etc...

Torbjörn Tyler

>On Wed, October 1, 2008 12:47 pm, Torbjorn Tyler wrote:
>> Well, I suppose the question then is: Can you ever know enough about a
>> presumed new species (to describe it) when there is only a single
>> specimen of it available for study?
>
>Sure.  Will you always know enough from one?  No.  But then, would you
>always know enough if you had two specimens?  Three?  Ten?  A hundred?
>How do you know when you have enough?  It always comes down to a
>judgement call.
>
>Karl
>=====================
>Karl Magnacca
>Postdoctoral Researcher
>Department of Zoology
>Trinity College, Dublin 2
>Ireland
>
>
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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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