The legacy of early radiolarian taxonomists, with a focus on the species published by early German workers

Abstract

Abstract. Approximately one-third of the c. 1200 polycystine radiolarian names currently recognized as valid in deep-sea research (Cenozoic sediments and plankton) come from the first century of taxonomic studies (c. 1840–1930). German scientists dominated early research on radiolarian biology and taxonomy. C. G. Ehrenberg’s initial work was followed by E. Haeckel’s mammoth monographic works, particularly his Challenger report. Other important early workers were D. Rüst on Mesozoic and Palaeozoic forms and A. Popofsky on plankton and sediment materials, with smaller contributions by J. Müller, E. Stöhr, F. Dreyer and H. Mast. Excluding Haeckel, these workers together published over 2000 species names. A fraction (5–25%) of these names are still used today in deep-sea research, with a tendency for more prolific authors to have higher modern usage rates. Haeckel’s legacy is different. He published over 5000 species names, but only a few percent are still used. The reasons for his species names no longer being used seem to include both factors common to disuse of names from other early authors (inadequate text descriptions, poor or absent illustration, no preserved original materials) but also due to substantial duplication of species and genus names, created by imposition of a partially artificial high level taxonomy. Based on Haeckel’s own writings and by analogy to other parts of Haeckel’s work, it is suggested that Haeckel’s desire to discover and show evolutionary relationships lay behind this flawed approach to taxonomy.

Radiolarian researchers based in Italy during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

“…Meyen, Ehrenberg, Rüst, Haeckel, Stöhr and many others (for details on early German workers, see Lazarus 2014). The most important date in radiolarian studies is connected to one of these early workers, to the monumental monograph published by Haeckel in 1887.…”

An evaluated list of Cenozic-Recent radiolarian species names (Polycystinea), based on those used in the DSDP, ODP and IODP deep-sea drilling programs

“…All radiolarian names that had appeared in any of the drilling program databases, or in Neptune, would be edited for author-year and synonymy status. This would cover the large majority of Cenozoic names in common use by radiolarian specialists, while avoiding a large number of frankly dubious names, mostly by early workers such as Haeckel (Lazarus, 2014), which are present in data sources such as Radworld but which have seen little or no use by modern workers. The relatively infrequent recovery of well preserved Mesozoic radiolarian-bearing material by deep-sea drilling has resulted in a similarly modest number of radiolarian taxonomic names in these institutions' databases.…”

“…Genus names are a problem in Cenozoic radiolarian taxonomy due primarily to the creation of a great number (ca 1,200) of overly split or otherwise artificial genus names by Haeckel (1887) (Lazarus, 2014). For many groups of radiolarians no significant revisions exist; of those that have been revised, some have been done in brief notes within in relatively obscure publications, which are then often not made use of by subsequent workers.…”

“…Lastly, the meaning of older generic concepts has often been unresolvable as no type material was available for examination. Publications have recently provided major re-descriptions of original materials from older authors Lazarus and Suzuki, 2009;Ogane et al, 2009;Sakai et al, 2009;Suzuki, 2009;Suzuki et al, 2009a, b;Bjørklund et al, 2014;Dolven et al, 2014), and have resolved the previously uncertain status of other old collections (many were determined to have been lost in WWII: Lazarus, 2014). It is hoped that this new information, the lack of which has hindered taxonomic revision, together with the list of species provided here, will make it easier to revise Cenozoic radiolarian generic taxonomy in the future.…”

Editorial: The legacy of early radiolarian taxonomists

“…The first paper by Lazarus (2014) makes use of newly available compilations of radiolarian species names to give a statistical summary of radiolarian taxonomists, and how taxonomic research developed over time. Radiolarian studies clearly developed in two rather discontinuous phases in the late nineteenth and late twentieth centuries.…”