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Date: | Mon, 6 Jun 2016 15:03:19 +0000 |
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Thanks for posting this Matt. Very interesting. Photos care be altered or their perspective misinterpreted. Hard to get DNA samples from a photograph. LOL. I see this as causing a proliferation of species naming which seems to have no consistency, at least as it applies to naming new mollusks. Of course, amateur collectors are already under pressure despite their contribution to scientific research. I sure hope this is never accepted as the norm.
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On Mon, 6/6/16, [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Subject: [CONCH-L] Shell collectors be ware !
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Monday, June 6, 2016, 6:39 AM
#yiv3852548279 p
{margin:0;}I heard an interesting
lecture at the Entomology Society of
Washington’s banquet Thursday night. It was by a Canadian
Diptera specialist ,
Stephen A Marshall, PhD. He is a
professor at the University of Guelph. He described how he
came to the
conclusion that he could use a photograph as the holotype
for a new species Diptera
that he was naming and describing. The photograph would be
the holotype. He
inadvertently had lost the actual specimen that he had
collected after taking
the photograph. Since it was the only specimen that he had
ever seen of this
new species he decided to use the photograph as the
holotype. He checked the International Society for
Phylogenetic Nomenclature rules and concluded
that the use of a
photograph for holotype is not excluded. He then told a
story of a second use of a photograph as a
holotype in the naming of a
new species of Diptera in which the discoverer had taken a
photograph of the
fly but the fly flew out the window before he could catch
it.
I am thinking that while
photographs may have enough details
to act as a holotype for a fly that it would not be
appropriate for new land
snail, marine mollusk or bivalve because you would need to
see the body and
shell morphology.
Dr. Marshall had several
copies of his new books ( that were
for sale) that all deal with the use of photography. He
described how
previously unknown behavior had been discovered by him while
photographing insects.
I have no doubt that new behavior can be discovered by
concentrated observation
such as that required by a photographer. Frankly I think it
would be more
appropriate to take moving pictures instead of still
photographs to capture
that behavior.
At any rate it was an
interesting lecture followed by a
lively question-and-answer session.
One reason that he
gave for the increased use of photography instead of the
actual collection of
specimens was the increasing complexity of obtaining permits
to collect, to export,
and to import specimens. This problem of obtaining permits
is particularly problematic
for people building collections that would eventually be
gifted to museums or
universities as has been done in the past. His solution was
for these people
interested in collecting specimens, to
collect photographs of insects and keep the photographs as
the collection. This
might also include professionals who just want to collect
without all of the
problems associated with acquiring permits. He
suggested that people could check off what
they had seen like bird watchers do on check lists, and or
photograph the specimens much the way bird
watchers do.
While I readily understand
the increasing problem of
obtaining permits it seems somewhat sad to me that people
interested in science
should be reduced to collecting photographs much like
baseball cards or stamp
collecting. When I read between the lines one of the
messages that I get is
that only professionals will be allowed
to take specimens and that anyone else who's interested
can collect photographs
or check off a list like a bird watcher often do. I am
anticipating that in the
future one will be required to obtain a permit to kill a
mosquito. Will there
be mosquitos on the endangered species list? Don’t count
that one out! The good
news is that you can take a photograph of it and check it
off of your list.
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