Names 'n Numbers

[Michael Gochfeld]

I'll have to look at the BIOSIS web site. I am writing a book on
discovering new bird species. There was a time (1960's) when pundits
wrote that there were fewer than 100 new bird species left undiscovered,
but of course everyone knew that the entomologists had a lot of work to
do. Well there have been a lot more than 100 new bird species (not to
mention dozens of "cryptic" species, undisguised and allopatric taxa
elevated to species level based on voice or biochemistry.  

Mike Gochfeld

"Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX" wrote:
> 
> Although the first Fox Sparrow showed up yesterday we are still some weeks
> from seeing butterflies here in southern BC, Canada so I cannot report on
> real bugs. However, I will mention some interesting numbers gleaned from the
> biosis website using Zoological Record data.  Taxonomists have been very
> busy since 1978: 421,801 new animal taxa !!! Lepidopterists have apparently
> been sleeping at the throttle since only 23,323 new Lepidoptera taxa have
> been introduced. Contrast this to those Coleopterists who apparently are not
> taking time to sleep; as evidenced by their record-setting performance of
> 59,936 Coleoptera taxa :-) I was surprised to see that even in what I
> thought to be fairly stable and well-known groups like birds and mammals
> there have been 1588 new bird taxa and 6,363 new mammal taxa.  Any guesses
> how many more new taxa will be added to the literature in the next 20 or so
> years ??  No sign of any stability in animal taxonomy that I can detect; and
> thank goodness for that :-)
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Norbert Kondla  P.Biol., RPBio.
> Forest Ecosystem Specialist, Ministry of Environment
> 845 Columbia Avenue, Castlegar, British Columbia V1N 1H3
> Phone 250-365-8610
> Mailto:Norbert.Kondla at gems3.gov.bc.ca
> http://www.env.gov.bc.ca
> 
> 
>  ------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>    For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:
> 
>    http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl
> 

-- 

================================================
Michael Gochfeld, MD, PhD
Professor of Environmental and Community Medicine
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
170 Frelinghuysen Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854  USA
732-445-0123 X627  fax 732-445-0130

 
 ------------------------------------------------------------ 

   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:

   http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl