[Zoobank-list] Protonym, name usage, datanym

[David Eades]

Responding to the message from Richard Pyle:

 

By "misapplied name" what I mean is a name used incorrectly for a specimen
that is actually not a member of the taxon identified by the name.  For
instance suppose someone described Aus bus based on a male holotype and
female allotype.  If it is later determined that the allotype was
misidentified and is actually Aus cus, then the name Aus bus was misapplied
to the allotype.

 

The definitions of Reference, NameString and TaxonNameUsage seem good to me.
I don't assign IDs to name strings, only to uninomial names ("datanyms"),
but this is unimportant for the main issue.  My datanym would encompass many
name usages for the same protonym provided they all are currently believed
to fit the same currently accepted taxon concept.

 

Let me explain what I meant by "However, this means that datanyms can come
and go with changes in taxon concepts."  In the example above for the
misapplied name, discovery that the allotype is actually Aus cus requires
the creation of a new datanym.  If Aus cus later becomes a synonym of Aus
bus, then that datanym for the misapplication disappears.  This does not add
maintenance burden.  Each of these changes requires manual entry no matter
what data structure is adopted.  The burden of maintaining a record of
obsolete datanyms seems to me less than the burden of an alternate structure
not built around datanyms.  But perhaps that is only my reluctance to deal
with a structure very different from what I have used for many years.  My
tblCites (citations) is the equivalent of TaxonNameUsage.  The primary key
is a combination of the TaxonNameID (for the datanym) and a sequence number.
A column NomenclatorID in tblCites points to tblNomenclator, which contains
the equivalent of NameString.  I think a reasonably simple script could make
the conversion between my structure and the ZooBank structure, but I don't
want to deal with "protonym" in a way that would undermine such a
conversion.

 

It seems to me that the Orthoptera Species File is the best source of LSIDs
assigned to names used in Orthoptera.  The critical issue for me is that I
need a precise agreed definition for protonym.  I like the concept, but I am
unwilling to proceed with any implementation until I have confidence that I
am matching the definition that will be used in ZooBank.

 

My proposed definition is explained with many examples at
http://software.speciesfile.org/Design/NamesAndConcepts.aspx.  I am willing
to modify it to match what ZooBank will use, but indications on behalf of
ZooBank to be flexible don't solve my problem.  The one real difference
brought out in Richard's message was whether an informal name (n. sp. A)
would be a protonym.  I agree it would make sense to define it either way, I
just want to know which way it will be used in ZooBank.  My thought to
exclude informal names from the definition was to avoid giving added
recognition to names we want to leave behind as soon as possible.  Once the
name has been replaced by Aus bus, I would prefer not to give it a separate
row in my tblTaxa or to list "n. sp. A" as a synonym under Aus bus.  The
information would still be there in my equivalent of TaxonNameUsage.

 

David Eades

Illinois Natural History Survey

 


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