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Box 5638 Gainesville, FL 32627-5638, USA 8 XXX POINTS OF VIEW Herpetological Review, 2013, 44(1), 8–23. © 2013 by Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles Best Practices: In the 21st Century, Taxonomic Decisions in Herpetology are Acceptable Only When Supported by a Body of Evidence and Published via Peer-Review Taxonomy, the scientific process by which natural groups precise taxonomy can biologists, and those who apply biological are identified, described, named, and classified is an exciting principles, communicate effectively (Cotterill 1997). As a con- research pursuit, not only because it makes an indispensable sequence, dubious taxonomy undermines the underpinnings contribution to biodiversity science but, at a more basic level, of science as a whole, with potentially serious consequences in because it satisfies the human enjoyment of discovery. However, basic and applied research. As scientists, we are fully account- taxonomy has been an area of biological science in which er- able for all elements of our research, especially when our find- rors, ethical transgressions, and clashes of egos have been par- ings have broad contemporary applications. This accountability ticularly vicious and public, harkening back to the earliest days extends to the taxonomies we create or use. We also believe of the binomial system of nomenclature when Linnaeus (1737) this responsibility includes monitoring the evidence presented named what he considered an insignificant weed (genus Sieges- as justification for taxonomic decisions. Normally, this is a key beckia) after Johann Georg Siegesbeck, a contemporary and very function of peer review (McPeek et al. 2009; Perry et al. 2012; vocal critic. Thompson 2010), but when peer review is circumvented, biol- Taxonomy’s Impact.—Taxonomy is a fundamental compo- ogists are forced to find other means to protect the integrity of nent of biology because it includes the subdiscipline of biology their science. in which organismal groups are defined and named so that they Taxonomy in Practice.—The problem with taxonomy arises may fittingly be included in the scientific discourse. Only with when the data used to create taxonomic decisions are shod- dily presented, derive from spurious research, or lack evidence. While it is true that taxonomic decisions invariably require de- HINRICH KAISER tailed descriptive components, when these descriptions are built Department of Biology, Victor Valley College, 18422 Bear Valley Road, Victorville, California 92395, USA into a scientific framework, they strictly conform to the scientific e-mail: [email protected] method; the hypothesis tested is the existing taxonomy, and this BRIAN I. CROTHER hypothesis can be falsified and reformulated (Crother 2009). To Department of Biological Sciences, Southeastern Louisiana University, perform the tasks that should define 21st Century taxonomic sci- Hammond, Louisiana 70402, USA ence, three main steps are key: (1) Generate hypotheses of group e-mail: [email protected] membership (e.g., a species, a clade) or evolutionary relation- CHRISTOPHER M. R. KELLY ship (e.g., sister taxa) based on available primary sources (e.g., Molecular Ecology & Systematics Group, Department of Botany, existing or new collections of specimens including whole ani- Rhodes University, mals, tissues, and DNA sequences) and the available literature; Grahamstown 6140, South Africa (2) test these hypotheses via appropriate, rigorous, and honest e-mail: [email protected] LUCA LUISELLI analysis of the relevant data; and (3) submit proposed taxonomic Centre of Environmental Studies DEMETRA s.r.l., Via Olona 7, decisions (e.g., taxonomic rearrangements, descriptions of new I-00198 Rome, Italy species, elevation of subspecies to species rank) to peer-reviewed e-mail: [email protected] journals in the form of manuscripts that present the data and MARK O’SHEA provide a rational justification for the proposed decisions. These West Midland Safari Park, three responsible steps constitute the information processing Bewdley, Worcestershire DY12 1LF, United Kingdom system that helps to ensure that taxon names, taxon concepts, e-mail: [email protected] and taxonomic arrangements are properly grounded in evidence. HIDETOSHI OTA 21st Century Developments.—In the post-2000 explosion of Institute of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of Hyogo, electronic information, the rapid publication and quick dissemi- Yayoigaoka 6, Sanda, Hyogo 669-1546, Japan e-mail: [email protected] nation of scientific information have been prominent and gener- PAULO PASSOS ally positive trends across all research fields, including taxonomy. Departamento de Vertebrados, Museu Nacional, In keeping with these developments, the International Com- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, mission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) recently amended São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 290940-040, Brazil several articles of the International Code of Zoological Nomen- e-mail: [email protected] clature (hereafter referred to as the Code) to allow publication WULF D. SCHLEIP of nomenclatural acts solely via electronic media (ICZN 2012). Fichtenweg 11, 53340 Meckenheim, Germany However, in addition to diverse online publishing channels, uni- e-mail: [email protected] versally available desktop-publishing technology has also made WOLFGANG WÜSTER production of high-quality booklets, pamphlets, and even jour- School of Biological Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, LL57 2UW, Wales, United Kingdom nals easy for anyone. For taxonomists, this trend is both a curse e-mail: [email protected] and a blessing. Even as the path to publication has been simpli- fied and the time to publication shortened by the emergence of Herpetological Review 44(1), 2013 POINTS OF VIEWXXX 9 reputable, rigorously scientific, peer-reviewed, and well-edited taxonomic accounts in potentially hard-to-locate publications electronic or rapid-print journals (e.g., ZooKeys, Zootaxa), pub- during literature inquiries on synonyms, and they must examine lishing is no longer a controlled environment and there are out- type material in potentially difficult-to-access collections. This lets where nonscientific and misguided taxonomy