New Species Described From Photographs: Yes? No? Sometimes? A Fierce Debate and a New Declaration of the ICZN

Abstract

The option of describing new taxa using photographs as proxies for lost or escaped ('unpreserved') type specimens has been rarely used but is now undergoing renewed scrutiny as taxonomists are increasingly equipped to capture descriptive information prior to capturing and preserving type specimens. We here provide a historical perspective on this practice from both nomenclatural and practical points of view, culminating in a summary and discussion of a new Declaration of the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature containing recommendations about descriptions without preserved specimens. We conclude that although descriptions using photographs as proxy types are Code-compliant and occasionally justified, the conditions under which such descriptions are justified are likely to remain relatively rare. Increasing restrictions on specimen collecting, which we deplore because of the centrality of collecting and collections to all of biodiversity science, could lead to more 'proxy type' descriptions in those taxa in which photographs can provide sufficient information for descriptions, but we predict that such cases will remain infrequent exceptions.

Maraapunisaurus fragillimus, N.G. (formerly Amphicoelias fragillimus), a basal Rebbachisaurid from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic) of Colorado

“…It must also be remembered that the Code is meant for all branches of zoology, not just vertebrate paleontology. A binding rule that physical type specimens must exist would exclude some branches of zoology from the Code as listed in Krell and Marshall (2017).…”

“…The recently issued nonbinding Declaration 45 (ICZN 2017) seeks to promote good taxonomic practice regarding an unpreserved specimen as the name-bearing type. As Krell and Marshall (2017) (Carpenter, 2006a) Etymology Ma-ra-pu-ni (pronounced mah-rah-poo-nee) -Southern Ute for "huge" used here in reference to the huge size of the animal, and saurus, Greek for reptile. The Garden Park area was traditionally Ute tribal territory before they were displaced by settlers in the mid-1800s.…”

Described from images: The remarkable soldier of Procryptotermes dioscurae Harris (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) from Socotra Island

“…Krell and Marshall (2017) review this issue and note that ICZN (2017) now specifically allows images or genetic sequences to be used in place of preserved name-bearing specimens. We support the use of images when specimens are lost or cannot be retained.…”

Let me tell you ‘bout the birds and the bee-mimicking flies and Bambiraptor

“…One objection printed in The Auk was authored by four ornithologists and signed by 98 others from 19 different countries (Banks et al 1993). And the furor surrounding this particular episode has never really abated: the episode is mentioned in many if not most of the discussions of the ethics of collecting that have since occurred (e.g., Hustler 1996;Wakeham-Dawson, Morris, & Tubbs 2002;Bates et al 2004;Dalebout et al 2004;Dubois & Nemésio 2007;Donegan 2008Donegan , 2009Nemésio 2009;Peterson 2014;Dubois 2017;Krell & Marshall 2017). Newly controversial cases have since arisen (e.g., Jones et al 2005;Thalmann & Geissmann 2005;Mendes Pontes, Malta, & Asfora 2006;Gentile & Snell 2009;Marshall & Evenhuis 2015), but the case of the provocatively-named Laniarius liberatus-the shrike that was set free-is the one that most prominently commences and persists throughout this modern period of discord surrounding biological specimen collecting practices.…”

“…For a representative sample of authors each articulating a subset of these concerns, see LeCroy & Vuilleumier (1992); Collar (2000); Bates et al (2004); Dubois & Nemésio (2007); Donegan (2008); Nemésio (2009); Krell & Wheeler (2014); Minteer et al (2014); Peterson (2014); Marshall & Evenhuis (2015); Ceríaco, Gutiérrez, & Dubois (2016); Aguiar, Santos, & Urso-Guimarães (2017); Dubois (2017); andKrell & Marshall (2017). For a somewhat terrifying demonstration of what can be at stake here for an individual practicing scientist, seeJohnson (2018).…”