Taxonomy

Danalemp1216

Arachnosquire
Joined
Oct 12, 2015
Messages
57
Thanks for posting this. Taxonomy is a tricky discipline. Revisions are happening all the time in all taxa, as new information comes forward. Taxonomists group organisms based on shared characteristics that are unique from other groups, but there is definitely human error. Also some taxonomists tend to lump a lot of species together while others tend to split taxa into many smaller groups. Being as diverse as tarantulas are, and with a rather small group of experts, revisions are going to keep happening.
 

AphonopelmaTX

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
May 7, 2004
Messages
1,816
I wonder when taxonomist are going to pursue of describing a species that’s never been described? Instead taxonomist keep butting heads just to see who has the bigger @#%%^+ sort of speak. Describe a species that’s never been described instead, make since to me.
Considering that there were 34 new tarantula species described in 2016, I think taxonomists are giving a lot of attention to describing new species. ;)

Here is a listing of the number of tarantula species described for the past 18 years in case anyone is interested. Naturally, we are only 4 months into 2018. The year with the highest number of tarantula species described was in 1897 with 38 new species. Four more than in 2016.

2000 - 9
2001 - 10
2002 - 2
2003 - 9
2004 - 4
2005 - 17
2006 - 5
2007 - 11
2008 - 26
2009 - 7
2010 - 20
2011 - 7
2012 - 28
2013 - 8
2014 - 32
2015 - 18
2016 - 34
2017 - 21
2018 - 2
 

Dave Jay

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 5, 2018
Messages
294
They're still arguing over who used what genus name first in 1901 and which one is valid today! There's no hard and fast rules on who is right when assigning scientific names, it becomes a battle of who used that name when and who accepted it and published papers using it. Then someone does a revision and off we go for another 50 or 100 years!
It does seem to be very much a popularity contest at times.
 

Exoskeleton Invertebrates

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 17, 2007
Messages
1,101
Considering that there were 34 new tarantula species described in 2016, I think taxonomists are giving a lot of attention to describing new species. ;)

Here is a listing of the number of tarantula species described for the past 18 years in case anyone is interested. Naturally, we are only 4 months into 2018. The year with the highest number of tarantula species described was in 1897 with 38 new species. Four more than in 2016.

2000 - 9
2001 - 10
2002 - 2
2003 - 9
2004 - 4
2005 - 17
2006 - 5
2007 - 11
2008 - 26
2009 - 7
2010 - 20
2011 - 7
2012 - 28
2013 - 8
2014 - 32
2015 - 18
2016 - 34
2017 - 21
2018 - 2
Funny! How many of those will get revised by another taxonomist so they can rights for the new description?
It’s a downward spiral with these guys. Maybe I don’t give taxonomist as much credit as I should. I just can’t stand the fact that there are many more species that need to be described and yet the funds are going towards species already been described. That seems to be the case.

I’m still waiting for the rest of the Brachypelma species revision, still no publication. Only documentation of smithi and hamorii is available.
 
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