There are two aspects of decribing a new species.  One is the "legal"
aspect-how to make sure that your description fits ICZN standards.
The harder part is working out whether you really have something that
is different from known species.  This requires carefully searching
the literature to see what related species are already named and
studying the variation within the different populations to determine
what the normal levels of difference are between species.
Unfortunately, there's no formula that works for everything.  Some
species are more variable in certain features while other show very
little difference.  Additional considerations include geographic or
habitat separation.

--
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"

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