Today is Taxonomist Appreciation Day, and at the risk of shameless self-promotion, we take the opportunity to highlight some of the taxonomic efforts of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology staff and collaborators, and to dispel one taxonomic misconception that has popped up in the media lately.
In recent weeks, the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) taxonomy database has made a splash on news headlines throughout the world. The massive undertaking, which grew out of several existing, distinct databases, was developed to provide the first ever comprehensive database of all known marine life. As the database nears completion (in terms of existing, known species), its catalogue of species names, which have been accumulating in the scientific literature since the 1700s, shows that just 55% of names (190,000 of 419,000) ever used for species are valid.
But what does that actually mean for a species name to be considered "valid"? Does that mean that biologists have been wrong a lot in naming species? That's the simple interpretation that was widely reported for one particular case in which a single species of snail, Littorina saxatilis, has been labeled with as many as 113 different names. In the simple view, this snail has been "misidentified" more than any other kind (or species) on Earth. But that is only part of the situation. Yes, numerous times this snail has been erroneously described as something new to science, and given a name. But the majority of "wrong" names for this snail are result from other causes.
One cause of wrong taxonomic names is actually just misspelling in a taxonomic paper. The history of taxonomy shows that sometimes misspellings can be copied by subsequent authors and used so much that they become common. Other causes of "wrong" names for a species are a bit more esoteric but highly important in the history of taxonomy: combinations and ranks. In the matter of ranks, consider Littorina saxatilis once again. Different taxonomists have named "varieties", a rank below species not accepted in zoological taxonomy, as was done by an author named Jeffreys in 1865, who used the name Littorina saxatilis var. laevis to refer to a subgroup of the species. However, Jeffreys identification of the species was clearly correct at the species level.
To explain combinations, consider how taxonomists use a binomial name for species consisting of a genus name followed by a species epithet, a practice that goes back to Linnaeus who incidentally named our very own: Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758. The lovely medusa above goes by the name Halocoryne orientalis, which is presently considered to be valid. When the species was originally described by Browne in 1916, he placed the species in a different genus, as Zanclea orientalis. You can easily see that it would be nonsensical to conclude that Browne -- who originally described and named the species -- misidentified it, even it was subsequently moved over to a new genus.
The important point is that we can sort out all of these issues using WoRMS as a tool and have the results be widely available. Building and consolidating such a gargantuan database as WoRMS has taken extensive effort on the part of more than 200 taxonomic experts and marine scientists the world-over. Many of these dedicated individuals are members of our very own Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) community (see list below). As experts in their fields, service as editors for WoRMS is an important opportunity for these individuals to broaden the impact of their work. Still in other cases, the effort of NMNH researchers has lent significantly to the knowledge contained within this database, by contributing new scientific discoveries.
None of this is to say that researchers are anywhere near having identified all of Earth’s marine life! In fact, two new species of dolphin and nearly 140 new species of sponges were described and named in 2014 alone. As we narrow in on the number of known species in the sea, some 230,000, we are also narrowing estimates of how many marine species in total there are. In the not too distant past, the upper end of such estimates was 10 million, but now most estimates are in the one to two million range. No matter what the precise number is, one thing that is certain is that we remain quite ignorant of a great deal of marine biodiversity. With so many unknown species lingering in the depths of the ocean, we’re going to need a lot of new systematists of marine taxa in the future!
The comprehensive list below identifies the many IZ researchers and collaborators currently serving as WoRMS editors:
- Research Zoologist Stephen Cairns, curator of corals in IZ, serves as the editor for Scleractinia and Stylasteridae.
- No Bones’ very own Allen Collins is editor of Ctenophora, Cubozoa, and Staurozoa, as well as curator of Medusozoa (Cnidaria) and Hexactinellida (Porifera) and one of IZ’s several adjunct scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service.
- Emeritus researcher Kristian Fauchald is the current editor of Aphroditiformia and Pisionidae, both classes of polychaete worms.
- Jerry Harasewych, now emeritus, is the editor of Columbariinae, a sub-family of deepwater sea snails.
- John Holsinger, IZ Research Associate from the department of Biological Sciences at Old Dominion University, is a current editor of amphipod crustaceans.
- IZ Research Associate Keith Crandall, from the George Washington University Computational Biology Institute, serves as editor of Nephropoidea (lobsters), Astacoidea (crayfish), and Aegloidea.
- Research Zoologist Rafael Lemaitre studies decapod crustaceans and serves as editor of Paguroidea – also known as hermit crabs!
- Research Collaborator Chris Mah is an editor of the World Asteroidea Database and provides curatorial support to the Echinodermata (e.g., starfish) collection within NMNH.
- IZ Chair Jon Norenburg is editor of Nemertea, aligning well with his position as curator of Nemertea at NMNH.
- Dennis Opresko, IZ Research Associate from the Toxicology and Hazard Assessment Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is current editor of Antipatharia, otherwise known as the black corals.
- IZ Research Collaborator Marilyn Schotte serves as editor of Isopoda, which includes sea slaters, a relative of the terrestrial sowbug.
- Ilya Tëmkin, also a Research Collaborator in IZ, is editor of Pteroida, a class of bivalve mollusks.
- No Bones previously highlighted Chad Walter’s editorial contributions to the World of Copepods database. Chad received the Monoculus Award from the World Association of Copepodologists for this work, most of which has been volunteer hours in addition to his official collection management duties within the department of Invertebrate Zoology (IZ). Chad is also an editor of Branchiura for WoRMS.
By Liz Boatman and Allen Collins
Read more about the many accomplishments of marine researchers, the WoRMS database, and its devoted editors here.
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