Abstract
Discussions of current issues of broad interest in zoological taxonomy are encouraged in Zootaxa (Zhang 2007). One recent topic examines species names based on photographs without preserved specimens. This is not a new topic: as Ceríaco et al. (2016) correctly noted, this topic was previously discussed about a decade ago in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008), and was soon followed by a series of opinions and rebuttals when the critically endangered species Galápagos pink land iguana—Conolophus marthae Gentile & Snell, 2009—was named without a preserved holotype (Donegan 2009; Nemésio 2009a,b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009).
References
Aguiar, J.J.M., Santos, J.C. & Urso-Guimarães, M.V. (2017) On the use of photography in science and taxonomy: how images can provide a basis for their own authentication. Bionomina, 12, 44–47.
https://doi.org/10.11646/bionomina.12.1.4
Amorim, D.S, Santos, C.M.D., Krell, F.-T., Dubois, A., Nihei, S.S., Oliveira, O.M.P., Pont, A., Song, H., Verdade, V.K., Fachin, D.A., Klassa, B., Lamas, C.J.E., Oliveira, S.S., Carvalho, C.J.B. De, Mello-Patiu, C.A., Hajdu, E., Couri, M.S., Silva, V.C., Capellari, R.S., Falaschi, R.L., Feitosa, R.M., Prendini, L., Pombal, J.P.J., Fernández, F., Rocha, R.M., Lattke, J.E., Caramaschi, U., Duarte, M., Marques, A.C., Reis, R.E., Kurina, O., Takiya, D.M., Tavares, M., Fernandes, D.S., Franco, F.L., Cuezzo, F., Paulson, D., Guénard, B., Schlick-Steiner, B.C., Arthofer, W., Steiner, F.M., Fisher, B.L., Johnson, R.A., Delsinne, T.D., Donoso, D.A., Mulieri, P.R., Patitucci, L.D., Carpenter, J.M., Herman, L. & Grimaldi, D. (2016) Timeless standards for species delimitation. Zootaxa, 4137 (1), 121–128.
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4137.1.9
Ceríaco, L.M., Gutierrez, E.E. & Dubois, A. (2016) Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences. Zootaxa, 4196 (3), 435–445.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4196.3.9
Chaladze, G. (2017) Taxonomy should be more photography based–eliminate need of physical specimen to study morphology. Zootaxa, 4247 (3), 331–331.
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4247.3.6
Cianferoni, F. & Bartolozzi, L. (2016) Warning: potential problems for taxonomy on the horizon? Zootaxa, 4139(1), 128–130.
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4139.1.8
Donegan, T.M. (2008) New species and subspecies descriptions do not and should not always require a dead type specimen. Zootaxa, 1761, 37–48.
Donegan, T.M. (2009) Type specimens, samples of live individuals and the Galapagos Pink Land Iguana. Zootaxa, 2021, 12–20.
Dubois, A. (2009) Endangered species and endangered knowledge. Zootaxa, 2201, 26–29.
Dubois, A. (2017a) The need of reference specimens in zoological taxonomy and nomenclature. Bionomina, 12, 4–38.
https://doi.org/10.11646/bionomina.12.1.2
Dubois, A. (2017b) Diagnoses in zoological taxonomy and nomenclature. Bionomina, 12, 63–85.
https://doi.org/10.11646/bionomina.12.1.8
Dubois, A. & Nemésio, A. (2007) Does nomenclatural availability of nomina of new species or subspecies require the deposition of vouchers in collections? Zootaxa, 1409, 1–22.
Epstein, M. (2017) Specimens and zoological nomenclature. Bionomina, 12, 1–3.
https://dx.doi.org/10.11646/bionomina.12.1.1
Faúndez, D.I. (2017) Photography-based taxonomy: Is it necessary to reform the Code, and what that exactly means? Zootaxa, 4247 (3), 332–332.
https://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4247.3.7
Garrouste, R. (2017) The “wild shot”: photography for more biology in natural history collections, not for replacing vouchers. Zootaxa, 4269, 453–454.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4269.4.2
Grandcolas, P. (2017) Loosing the connection between the observation and the specimen: a by-product of the digital era or a trend inherited from general biology? Bionomina, 12, 57–62.
Gentile, G. & Snell, H. (2009) Conolophus marthae sp. nov. (Squamata: Iguanidae), a new species of land iguana from the Galápagos archipelago. Zootaxa, 2201, 1–10.
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1999) International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Fourth edition. London, International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, xxix + 306 pp.
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (2017) Declaration 45 – Addition of Recommendations to Article 73 and of the term “specimen, preserved” to the Glossary. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, 73 (2–4), 96–97.
http://dx.doi.org/10.21805/bzn.v73i2.a2
Löbl, I. (2017) Assessing biodiversity: a pain in the neck. Bionomina, 12, 39–43.
https://dx.doi.org/10.11646/bionomina.12.1.3
Marshall, S.A & Evenhuis, N.L. (2015) New species without dead bodies: a case for photo-based descriptions, illustrated by a striking new species of Marleyimyia Hesse (Diptera, Bombyliidae) from South Africa. Zookeys, 525, 117–127.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.525.6143
Minelli, A. (2009) Commentaries on Gentile & Snell (2009): an introduction. Zootaxa, 2201, 11–11.
Nemésio, A. (2009a) Nomenclatural availability of nomina of new species should always require the deposition of preserved specimens in collections: a rebuttal to Donegan (2008). Zootaxa, 2045, 1–16.
Nemésio, A. (2009b) On the live holotype of the Galápagos pink land Iguana, Conolophus marthae Gentile & Snell, 2009 (Squamata: Iguanidae): is it an acceptable exception? Zootaxa, 2201, 21–25.
Orrico, V.G.D. (2017) Photography-based taxonomy is still really inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences. A reply to Thorpe (2017). Bionomina, 12, 47–51.
https://dx.doi.org/10.11646/bionomina.12.1.5
Pape, T. (2016) Taxonomy: species can be named from photos. Nature, 537, 307–307.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/537307b
Raposo, M.A. & Kirwan, G.M. (2017) What lies beneath the controversy as to the necessity of physical types for describing new species? Bionomina, 12, 52–56. .
https://dx.doi.org/10.11646/bionomina.12.1.6
Rogers, D.C., Ahyong, S.T., Boyko, C.B. & d'Udekem d'Acoz, C. (2017) Images are not and should not ever be type specimens: a rebuttal to Garraffoni & Freitas. Zootaxa, 4269, 455–459.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4269.4.3
Thorpe, S.E. (2017) Is photography-based taxonomy really inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences? A reply to Ceríaco et al. (2016). Zootaxa, 4226 (3), 449–450.
https://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4226.3.9.
Zhang, Z.Q. (2017) A forum for the discussion of issues in zoological taxonomy. Zootaxa, 1407, 1–2.