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dc.contributor.authorWüster, Wolfgang
dc.contributor.authorThomson, Scott A
dc.contributor.authorO'Shea, Mark
dc.contributor.authorKaiser, Hinrich
dc.date.accessioned2021-04-22T14:59:09Z
dc.date.available2021-04-22T14:59:09Z
dc.date.issued2021-04-20
dc.identifier.citationWüster, W., Thomson, S. A., O’Shea, M. & Kaiser, H. (2021) Confronting taxonomic vandalism in biology: conscientious community self-organization can preserve nomenclatural stability, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 133 (3), Pages 645–670, https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blab009en
dc.identifier.doi10.1093/biolinnean/blab009en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2436/624028
dc.description© 2021 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blab009en
dc.description.abstractSelf-published taxon descriptions, bereft of a basis of evidence, are a long-standing problem in taxonomy. The problem derives in part from the Principle of Priority in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, which forces the use of the oldest available nomen irrespective of scientific merit. This provides a route to ‘immortality’ for unscrupulous individuals through the mass-naming of taxa without scientific basis, a phenomenon referred to as taxonomic vandalism. Following a flood of unscientific taxon namings, in 2013 a group of concerned herpetologists organized a widely supported, community-based campaign to treat these nomina as lying outside the permanent scientific record, and to ignore and overwrite them as appropriate. Here, we review the impact of these proposals over the past 8 years. We identified 59 instances of unscientific names being set aside and overwritten with science-based names (here termed aspidonyms), and 1087 uses of these aspidonyms, compared to one instance of preference for the overwritten names. This shows that when there is widespread consultation and agreement across affected research communities, setting aside certain provisions of the Code can constitute an effective last resort defence against taxonomic vandalism and enhance the universality and stability of the scientific nomenclature.en
dc.formatapplication/pdfen
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherOxford University Pressen
dc.relation.urlhttps://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/133/3/645/6240088en
dc.subjecttaxonomic vandalismen
dc.subjecttaxonomic stabilityen
dc.titleConfronting taxonomic vandalism in biology: conscientious community self-organization can preserve nomenclatural stabilityen
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.identifier.eissn1095-8312
dc.identifier.journalBiological Journal of the Linnean Societyen
dc.date.updated2021-04-22T11:00:49Z
dc.date.accepted2021-01-19
rioxxterms.funderUniversity of Wolverhamptonen
rioxxterms.identifier.projectUOW22042021MOSen
rioxxterms.versionVoRen
rioxxterms.licenseref.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate2021-04-22en
dc.source.volume133
dc.source.issue3
dc.source.beginpage645
dc.source.endpage670
refterms.dateFCD2021-04-22T14:57:31Z
refterms.versionFCDVoR
refterms.dateFOA2021-04-22T00:00:00Z


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