Taxonomic Splits ... with some species left in genus limbo.

I’m getting a bit frustrated at seeing what were multiply identified species identifications being dropped back to genus level because of taxonomic changes often due to geography. Some examples include nudibranchs found near my home (Newcastle Australia) including what have been known as Goniobranchus roboi, Coryphellina rubrolineata and Goniobranchus tinctorius. It is good that someone has researched and decided that the Australian east coast variety does not conform to these species any more - but we DO have the organised with a location and a name (even if incorrect). I've got NO issue with some things only getting to genus or other levels based on observation ... things that required microscopic or DNA inspection etc. But it seems impractical when you have a group that has already been identified to a species level.

My point - keep some semblance of order rather than losing everything in the genus. Imagine you had a bucket of nails, bolts and screws and you were sorting them out into separate containers based on type, size etc , but when you look at a container of a particular sized screw you noticed some had a difference - stainless Steel and galvanised. So you separate them leaving the stainless steel ones in that container but you’ve got these other ones without a container. What do you do? Put them in a plastic bag in the same container as the stainless ones until you have a new container sorted for them or chuck them back into the general bucket? That seems to be what some of the guys who are fully into the science of taxonomy are doing with these currently grouped species - I’ve got an engineering background … practicality wins … temporary plastic bag every time. Can’t we make “temporary” classifications that allow these to be separated but still grouped? This was done very successful when the rainbow lorikeet species Trichoglossus haematodus was split - the Australian rainbow lorikeet T. moluccans was first moved to be a subspecies of T. haematodus (based of geography of observations) and then finally corrected.

Posted on April 08, 2020 05:41 AM by tonydiver tonydiver

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