Abstract
Although ICZN Declaration 45 already shed some light to the issue regarding “typeless species descriptions,” we here explore the assignment of new species-group taxa in the absence of a physical type-specimen in more detail. The focus is on taxonomical studies of so-called soft-bodied meiofaunal organisms, in which a deposition of physical type specimens is frequently either not possible or even not advisable at all, because they are often lost before their formal designation as a name-bearing type. We emphasize some arguments and recommendations concerning photomicrography-based taxonomy on these delicate organisms. Furthermore, we discuss the designation of illustrations as nomenclatural types in the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, a practice that is applied for some time now and without any noticeable drawbacks regarding the quality of taxonomic acts.
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Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Daniel Lahr and the Graduate Program in Zoology IB/USP to organize the symposium about typification methods in modern taxonomy on July 2017, which was the starting point of this text. Jacek Kisielewski is kindly acknowledged for providing photomicrographs of Chaetonotus (Hystricochaetonotus) furcatus from his private collection. Many thanks to Brett Christopher Gonzalez and Yvonne Kieneke for editing the English text and Marco Curini-Galletti and anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.
Financial support
This work was supported by grants from Biota Program/Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP: 2014/23856-0) and Brazilian Research Council (CNPq: 478825/2013-7) for ARSG, National Science Centre in Poland (2015/17/N/NZ8/01568) for MK, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG: CRA-BPV-00547-17) for PHCC, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado (FAPESP: 2015/10788-0, 2016-50387-7) and Brazilian Research Council (CNPq: 403165/2016-4) for SSN, and Biota Program/Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP: 2011/50225-3), Brazilian Research Council (CNPq: fellowship 302585/2011-7, 303834/2015-3, 303615/2015-2), and National Science Foundation (DEB-1256742) for AVLF.
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Garraffoni, A.R.S., Kieneke, A., Kolicka, M. et al. ICZN Declaration 45: a remedy for the nomenclatural and typification dilemma regarding soft-bodied meiofaunal organisms?. Mar Biodiv 49, 2199–2207 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-019-00983-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-019-00983-7