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The galaxy of the non-Linnaean nomenclature

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Abstract

Contrary to the traditional claim that needs for unambiguous communication about animal and plant species are best served by a single set of names (Linnaean nomenclature) ruled by international Codes, I suggest that a more diversified system is required, especially to cope with problems emerging from aggregation of biodiversity data in large databases. Departures from Linnaean nomenclature are sometimes intentional, but there are also other, less obvious but widespread forms of not Code-compliant grey nomenclature. A first problem is due to the circumstance that the Codes are intended to rule over the way names are applied to species and other taxonomic units, whereas users of taxonomy need names to be applied to specimens. For different reasons, it is often impossible to refer a specimen with certainty to a named species, and in those cases an open nomenclature is employed. Second, molecular taxonomy leads to the discovery of clusters of gene sequence diversity not necessarily equivalent to the species recognized and named by taxonomists. Those clusters are mostly indicated with informal names or formulas that challenge comparison between different publications or databases. In several instances, it is not even clear if a formula refers to an individual voucher specimen, or is a provisional species name. The use of non-Linnaean names and formulas must be revised and strengthened by fixing standard formats for the different kinds of objects or hypotheses and providing permanent association of ‘grey names’ with standardized source information such as author and year. In the context of a broad-scope revisitation of aims and scope of scientific nomenclature, it may be worth rethinking if natural objects like plant galls and lichens, although other than the ‘single-entity’ objects traditionally covered by biological classifications, may nevertheless deserve taxonomic names.

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Notes

  1. Unfortunately, nomenclatural curation does not seem to be high priority in otherwise well-managed data bases. For example, in the list of taxa to which are referred the entries of the BOLD database (about which more in Sect. 3.2.), several species are listed twice, under alternative combinations of the same specific epithet with two different generic names, but the taxonomic identity of these names is not flagged. The following examples where the first of the two Latin names corresponding to the same species is the one in current use according to the Roskov et al. (2019) show that duplicate names are found in that database also for popularly known animals, such as yellow-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus gabriellae = Hylobates gabriellae), pygmy marmoset (Cebuella pygmaea = Callithrix pygmaea), Malayan tapir (Acrocodia indica = Tapirus indicus), Bahia porcupine (Sphiggurus insidiosus = Coendou insidiosus), pygmy hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis = Choeropsis liberiensis), alpaca (Vicugna pacos = Lama pacos), harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus = Phoca groenlandica), American mink (Neovison vison = Mustela vison), eyra (Puma yagouaroundi = Herpailurus yagouaroundi), ground pangolin (Manis temminckii = Smutsia temminckii), long-tailed pangolin (Manis tetradactyla = Phataginus tetradactyla), tree pangolin (Manis tricuspis = Phataginus tricuspis).

  2. And still currently accepted (Wilson and Reeder 2005; Roskov et al. 2019).

  3. The original (valid) spelling of this genus name, introduced by Linnaeus (1758) is Raja; Raia is an incorrect subsequent spelling without separate status in zoological nomenclature, in the sense of Art. 33.3 of the Code (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1999). Specifically, on Raja versus Raia, see Fricke et al. (2019), ad vocem.

  4. Little more than a curiosity is the survival of distinct names for the larva and the adult of the same animal. This double nomenclature was less exceptional in the XIX century, when knowledge about life cycles and metamorphoses was much less advanced than today. Thus Phyllosoma (described by Leach 1818), Nectochaeta (proposed by von Marenzeller 1892) and Pelagosphaera (introduced by Mingazzini 1905) were considered for a while to be independent genera (of crustaceans, polychaetes and peanut worms respectively), but were eventually recognized as larval stages of animals for which valid names had been previously established, based on adults. Things are admittedly less obvious when the name introduced for a larva is older than the name introduced for what eventually turns out to be the corresponding adult. Strict application of the Principle of Priority, one of the cornerstones of the Code, would fix the ‘larval’ name as valid for the adult too; but a ruling by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature might determine a reversal of precedence, as in the case of Phoronis Wright, 1856 (described on the adult animal) versus Actinotrocha Müller, 1846 (described on larvae), eventually suppressed (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 2015). The latter action should have terminated the paradoxical situation of both names being deliberately kept in use, one for the larva, one for the adult of the same animal, but this is practiced by some authors until now, e.g. with Actinotrocha branchiata and Phoronis muelleri, or Actinotrocha sabatieri and Phoronis psammophila (Conway 2015; Roskov et al. 2019).

  5. Unfortunately, this acronym, suggested by Heppell (1991) for the ill-fated International Standard Taxonomic Code, is actually in use for a different thing, the International Standard Text Code (see http://www.istc-international.org/, accessed August 1st, 2019). Ironic fate for the name of concepts intended to establish unique standards but also, as suggested by a reviewer of this article, an example of the fate of inadequately contextualized names.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Catherine Kendig and Joeri Witteveen for inviting me to contribute to this special issue and to both of them, two anonymous referees and the journal’s Editor Sabina Leonelli for their helpful suggestions on previous versions of the paper.

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Minelli, A. The galaxy of the non-Linnaean nomenclature. HPLS 41, 31 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-019-0271-0

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