Abstract
Zootaxa was launched ten years to help taxonomists overcome the taxonomic impediment by enabling them to describe biodiversity in a rapid and efficient way. The first paper on a new species of flat mite (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) was published in Zootaxa 1 on 28 May 2001 (Moraes & Freire 2001). Unlike many regularly-scheduled journals, each paper in Zootaxa was separately issued and published without delay after acceptance by the editor, and there are no page charges or a small fee to support open access. In addition, Zootaxa offers the flexibility to publish manuscripts of any length, so long as they pass peer review. Many colleagues were excited and encouraged by the prospects of such a brand new journal and some of them joined as associate editors to facilitate rapid processing of manuscripts. The journal has met the needs of authors and sustained an early phase of very rapid growth (Figs 1–3), with issue/paper 1,000 published on 27 May 2005 (Rodiles-Hernández et al. 2005). In the first four years, over 1,100 authors from all over the world published 23,000 pages in Zootaxa (Zhang 2005). Thereafter, short papers of fewer than 60 pages were no longer issued separately because several papers were often published on the same day; instead, short papers were grouped to form standard issues of 60, 64, or 68 pages to save paper, printing and mailing costs, with relatively little effect on the speed of publication.
References
Carvalho, M.R. De, Sabaj Perez (Usa), M.H. & Lovejoy, N.R. (2011) Potamotrygon tigrina, a new species of freshwater stingray from the upper Amazon basin, closely related to Potamotrygon schroederi Fernandez-Yépez, 1958 (Chondrichthyes: Potamotrygonidae). Zootaxa, 2827, 1–30.
Colyn, M., Hulselmans, J., Sonet, G., Oudé, P., de Winter, J., Natta, A., Nagy, Z.T. & Verheyen, E. (2010) Discovery of a new duiker species (Bovidae: Cephalophinae) from the Dahomey Gap, West Africa. Zootaxa, 2637, 1–30.
Deans A.R. & Kawada R. (2008) Alobevania, a new genus of neotropical ensign wasps (Hymenoptera: Evaniidae), with three new species: integrating taxonomy with the World Wide Web. Zootaxa, 1787, 28–44.
Doughty, P., Maryan, B., Donnellan, S.C. & Hutchinson, M.N. (2007) A new species of taipan (Elapidae: Oxyuranus) from central Australia. Zootaxa, 1422, 45–58.
Ferraris, C.J. (2007) Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes : Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa, 1418, 1–628.
Enghoff, H., Sutcharit, C. & Panha, S. (2007) The shocking pink dragon millipede, Desmoxytes purpurosea, a colourful new species from Thailand (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae). Zootaxa, 1563, 31–36.
Gershwin, L.A. (2007) Malo kingi: A new species of Irukandji jellyfish (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Carybdeida), possibly lethal to humans, from Queensland, Australia. Zootaxa, 1659, 55–68.
Hedges, S.B. (2008) At the lower size limit in snakes: two new species of threadsnakes (Squamata: Leptotyphlopidae: Leptotyphlops) from the Lesser Antilles. Zootaxa, 1841, 1–30.
Hennemann, F.H. & V.O. Conle. (2008) Revision of Oriental Phasmatodea: The tribe Pharnaciini Günther, 1953, including the description of the world's longest insect, and a survey of the family Phasmatidae Gray, 1835 with keys to the subfamilies and tribes (Phasmatodea: "Anareolatae": Phasmatidae). Zootaxa, 1906, 1–316.
Hugel, S., Micheneau, C., Fournel, J., Warren, B.H., Gauvin-Bialecki,, A., Pailler T., Chase, M.W. & Strasberg, D. (2010) Glomeremus species from the Mascarene islands (Orthoptera, Gryllacrididae) with the description of the pollinator of an endemic orchid from the island of Réunion. Zootaxa, 2545, 58–68.
Johnson, N.F., Masner, L., Musetti, L., van Noort, S., Rajmohana, K., Darling, D.C., Guidotti, A. & Polaszek, A. (2008) Revision of world species of the genus Heptascelio Kieffer (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea, Platygastridae). Zootaxa, 1776, 1–51.
Linnaeus, C. (1758) Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Tomus I. Laurentii Salvii, Holmiae, 828 pp.
Lourie, S.A. & Kuiter, R.H. (2008) Three new pygmy seahorse species from Indonesia (Teleostei: Syngnathidae: Hippocampus). Zootaxa, 1963, 54-68.
Meegaskumbura, M., Manamendra-Arachchi, K., Schneider, C.J. & Pethiyagoda, R. (2007) New species amongst Sri Lanka’s extinct shrub frogs (Amphibia: Rhacophoridae: Philautus). Zootaxa, 1397, 1–15.
Moraes, G.J. De & Freire, R.A.P. (2001) A new species of Tenuipalpidae (Acari: Prostigmata) on orchid from Brazil. Zootaxa, 1, 1–10.
Neang, T., Holden, J., Eastoe, T., Seng. R., Ith, S. & Grismer, L.L. (2011) A new species of Dibamus (Squamata: Dibamidae) from Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, southwestern Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia. Zootaxa, 2828, 58–68.
Pyle, R.L., Earle, J.L. & Greene, B.D. (2008) Five new species of the damselfish genus Chromis (Perciformes: Labroidei: Pomacentridae) from deep coral reefs in the tropical western Pacific. Zootaxa, 1671, 3–31.
Rodiles-Hernández, R., Hendrickson, D.A., Lundberg, J.G. & Humphries, J.M. (2005) Lacantunia enigmatica (Teleostei: Siluriformes) a new and phylogenetically puzzling freshwater fish from Mesoamerica. Zootaxa, 1000, 1–24.
Smith, V. (2010) Book review: Systema Naturae 250—The Linnaean Ark. Systematic Biology, 59(6), 757–760.
Taeger, A, Blank, S.M. & Liston, A.D. (2010) World Catalog of Symphyta (Hymenoptera). Zootaxa, 2580, 1–1064.
Tucker, J.K. (2004) Catalog of Recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Zootaxa, 682, 1–1295.
Vacelet, J., Kelly, M. & Schlacher-Hoenlinger, M. (2009) Two new species of Chondrocladia (Demospongiae: Cladorhizidae) with a new spicule type from the deep south Pacific, and a discussion of the genus Meliiderma. Zootaxa, 2073, 57–68.
Winterton S.L. (2009) Revision of the stiletto fly genus Neodialineura Mann (Diptera: Therevidae): an empirical example of cybertaxonomy. Zootaxa, 2157, 1–33.
Zhang, Z.-Q. (2005) Notice from Chief Editor. Zootaxa, 1001, 64.
Zhang, Z.-Q. (2006a) The first five years. Zootaxa, 1111, 68.
Zhang, Z.-Q. (2006b) The making of a mega-journal in taxonomy. Zootaxa, 1358, 67–68.
Zhang, Z.-Q. (2008a) Zoological taxonomy at 250: showcasing species descriptions in the cyber era. Zootaxa, 1671, 1–2
Zhang, Z.-Q. (2008b) Contributing to the progress of descriptive taxonomy. Zootaxa, 1968, 65–68.
Zhang, Z.-Q. (2009) A daily journal of taxonomy for rapid species discovery. Zootaxa, 2120, 1–2.
Zhang, Z.-Q. (2011) Describing unexplored biodiversity: Zootaxa in the International Year of Biodiversity. Zootaxa, 2768, 1–4.