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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