Species Epithet or Epitaph: the naming conundrum

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Species Epithet or Epitaph the naming conundrum

• Presented at the 92nd Annual SLA Conference
• San Antonio, Texas
• By Stephanie Haas
• Digital Library Center,
• University of Florida

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The Tradition

• Taxonomists use a binomial nomenclature refined
  by Linnaeus. It consists of a two-part Latin
  name formed by appending a specific epithet to
  the genus.
• The advantage of scientific names is less their
  stability than that they are the same no matter
  what the user's language and that changes in them
  are governed, in principle, by an internationally
  adopted Code.

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Speaking of Codes
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
(ICZN) International Code of Botanical
Nomenclature (ICBN) Bacteriological Code (BC)
International Code of Nomenclature for
Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) International Code of
Virus Classification and Nomenclature
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BioCode is being proposed as an integrated
biological nomenclature http//www.rom.on.ca/biod
iversity/biocode/intro.htmlHawk95

Arguments for Organisms that are not clearly
plants, animals or bacteria, the so- called
ambiregnal organisms. Difficulty in precision of
electronic retrieval when scientific name is used
without an identifying taxonomic context.
Current estimated cost 20 of taxonomists work
is trying to unravel nomenclature problems.
(Study in UK)
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Molecular biology andgenetics have lead to a new
schema

• PhyloCode A Phylogenetic Code of Biological
  Nomenclature
• http//www.ohiou.edu/phylocode/
• Phylogenetic taxonomy groups creatures together
  based on common ancestry and descent rather than
  on similarity, which is the hallmark of
  traditional taxonomy.

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The basic currency of the PhyloCode is each
branching point and all the branches that diverge
from it. Phylocoders call this fundamental unit
a clade, and it consists of a groups common
ancestor and all the species that descend from
it.

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The Impact

• Technological advances in determining relatedness
  of organisms has profound implications for
  nomenclature.
• Under the Linneaean system, reassigning a species
  to a new group requires renaming. Changing higher
  taxonomic groupings requires even more name
  changes, and major revisions could impact the
  names of thousands of species.

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From 1978 on
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In the Cladistics scheme, the binomial names lose
their hierarchical significance, but would
becomea convenient means of identification
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Naming Strategies

• Hyphenate the two-part names, Homo sapiens
  becomes homo-sapiens
• Dot-com approach homo.sapiens
• Use species designation followed by a unique
  registration number, e.g., sapiens7523.
• Probably will adopt some number to allow for
  interoperability between diverse electronic
  formats.

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Cladistic Resources

• Introduction to Cladistics, University of
  California, Museum of Paleontology
  http//www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/clad/clad1.html
• Understanding Cladistics, American Museum of
  Natural History
• http//www.amnh.org/exhibitions/Fossil_Halls/cladi
  stics.html
• Whats in a Name? By Bruce Fellman, Yale Alumni
  Magazine
• http//www.yale.edu/yam/Back_Issues/Oct99toSum2000
  /April_2000/phylo.html
• PhyloCode A Phylogenetic Code of Biological
  Nomenclature
• http//www.ohiou.edu/phylocode/
• TreeBase (stores published phylogenetic trees
  and data matrices)
• http//eew228.leidenuniv.nl/treebase/index.html

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Molecular resources

• National Center for Bioinformatics Information,
  NLM/NIH
• Taxonomy
• http//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/taxonomyh
  ome.html/
• Phylogenetics Databases and Information
• http//www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/subway/phylo/phyloda
  t.html

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ITISca
TreeBase
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http//www.itis.usda.gov/access.html
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http//www-stat.wharton.upenn.edu/siler/birdframe
.html
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http//www.natureserve.org/ from the Association
of Biodiversity Information
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http//www.biosis.org/triton/indexfm.htm
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Taxonomic Web Resources
General Tree of Lifehttp//phylogeny.arizona.edu
/tree/phylogeny.html Species 2000 http//www.sp20
00.org/ Global Biodiversity Information Facility
(GBIF)http//www.gbif.org/index.html Bioinformat
ics for Biodiversity A Web Registry http//www.sc
iencemag.org/feature/data/biodiversity2000.shltax
on
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North America ITISca http//sis.agr.gc.ca/itis/abo
uten.html ITIS http//www.itis.usda.gov/access.htm
l Plants International Plant Names Index (IPNI)
http//www.ipni.org/ USDA/Agricultural Research
Service taxonomy. http//www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/ta
x/taxgenform.html Plant Scientific Names and
Authoritieshttp//www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herbar
ium/links/botselec.htmPlantSci
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W3TROPICOS - The Missouri Botanical Garden
vascular plant database. http//mobot.mobot.org/P
ick/Search/pick.html Birds The A.O.U. Check-list
of North American Birds, 7th Edition http//www.ao
u.org/aou/birdlist.html Official source on the
taxonomy of birds found in North and Middle
America, including adjacent islands. Obsolete
English Names of North American Birdsand Their
Modern Equivalents http//www.pwrc.usgs.gov/resea
rch/pubs/banks/obsall.htm
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Sibley, C.G. and Monroe, B.L. 1990. Distribution
and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. Yale Univ.
Press. http//www-stat.wharton.upenn.edu/siler/
birdframe.html
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Reptiles EMBL Reptile Database http//www.embl-
heidelberg.de/uetz/LivingReptiles.html Amphibians
of the World (on-line version)
http//research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/ind
ex.html Fish Catalog of Fishes on-line.
http//www.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/ca
talog/index.html FishBase99. http//www.fishbase
.org/
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Mammals Wilson and Reeder's Mammal species of
the world on-line.http//www.nmnh.si.edu/msw/
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Major References for Vertebrate and Invertebrate
Names and Taxonomy Used for Animals in the
Natural Heritage Network (April 2001)
http//www.abi.org/datasets_zoo/sources424.htm
75 independent centers for the collection of
data about the plants, animals, and ecological
communities of the Western Hemisphere. Most are
part of state agencies, universities, or the
Nature Conservancy. Missing William Eschmeyers
Catalog of Fishes. San Francisco California
Academy of Sciences, 1998.
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University of Maryland Libraries Plants Common
and Scientific Nameshttp//www.lib.umd.edu/UMCP/M
CK/GUIDES/plant_names.html Animals Common and
Scientific Names http//www.lib.umd.edu/UMCP/MCK/G
UIDES/animal_names.html
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The Impact of Names on Information Retrieval
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3 common names 2 scientific names
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24 synonyms for African elephant
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LC uses common names
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Specialized databases usesome or all of
hierarchy BIOSIS FEOL database
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Affinity gradual differentiation from a
common stock.