It's very pertinent!! To err is human... We all make mistakes. But this
study demonstrates a great advantage of the scientific method: It is
self-correcting.

Here's a molluscan example involving a glaring error we (myself and Tom
Duda) made in a 2005 publication (Molecular Phylogentics and Evolution, 34:
257-272). We had the taxonomy correct, but not the phylogenetic
relationship. We still don't really know what went wrong but our results
showed that Conus furvus and C. litteratus are very closely related species
on the phylogenetic tree. It didn't take very long for Espino et al. (The
Nautilus, 122:143-150, 2008) to convince us, with a combination of molecular
and behavioral data, that this is quite erroneous and that C. furvus is much
more closely related to the other molluscivorous species than to the
worm-eating C. litteratus.

For both skinks and snails, we at least have a better chance of protecting
what we know is there than what we don't know is there.

Alan

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Wolff" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2012 11:44 AM
Subject: [CONCH-L] OT - Skink taxonomy


> Off topic, but pertinent anyhow.
>
> John
> Lancaster, PA
>
> http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/a-taxonomic-error-reversed-decades-too-late/?src=rechp
>
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