On Monday, February 22, 1999 at 6:02:44 am VUT,
"NORA BRYAN" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
>Firstly, anyone can name any species, whatever they want, whenever they
>want.  The primary question is 'recognition' as a valid species. There
>is only one absolute requirement: the new species name must appear 'in
>print'.
 
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature sets out rules and
recommendations regarding publication...
 
ACCEPTABLE
the work must be issued publicly for the purpose of providing a permanent
scientific record;
it must be obtainable, when first issued, free of charge or by purchase;
it must have been produced in an edition containing simultaneously obtainable
copies by a method that assures numerous identical copies.
 
As for types, there's no rule governing deposition of type material, but
there's a recommendation (72D) that types should be deposited in a museum or
similar institution where they will be safely preserved and will be
accessible for research...One would hope that any journal editor worth their
salt would remind an author of this if it were not the case.
 
As for the amateur/professional divide - it's surely more a matter of
resources than anything else.  Ready access to collections, microscopes,
other equipment and colleagues that do this sort of thing as a matter of
course smoothes the path.
 
Bronwen