Taxonomy vs. nomenclature

[Kondla, Norbert SRM:EX]

Over the years I have been asked for my views on sundry taxonomic matters
and every so often the question is phrased to enquire about what the
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature has to say about the matter.
These questions come from practicing biologists so since the professionals
periodically display some unclarity about this matter I expect that many
other people may not be clear on the issue either.  Here is the short answer
as I see it: The Code has nothing to say about matters of taxonomic
rank/taxonomic decisions. It deliberately, wisely and explicitly stays away
imposing any taxonomic rank (eg. species or subspecies) prescriptions and
leaves that to the judgement of individual people.  The Code is an
international convention that has been evolving for about 100 years and it
deals with nomenclature only. It provides the rules and logic to derive a
code-compliant name solution to any given taxonomic decision. It is also
useful to remember that the scientific names used in any book, paper,
report, list or catalogue is more than a simple listing of the 'correct'
name for an animal. Such lists and listings, by use of the names,
communicate the taxonomic opinion of the author.  Consequently we will
continue to see different people using different scientific names to
communicate their preferred taxonomic placement of an animal. And we will
hopefully even see the same people using different names for the same animal
over time as they reconsider their past views in light of newer information
and paradigm shifts. This is all very healthy and necessary.  I hope that
those who are sometimes annoyed by 'name changes' will understand that these
occur for perfectly valid reasons and that nobody is obliged to accept any
other view of what is 'right' at a given point in time. Differing views and
even occasional heated bickering is an unavoidable part of increasing our
collective understanding.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Norbert Kondla  P.Biol., RPBio.
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management
845 Columbia Avenue, Castlegar, British Columbia V1N 1H3
Phone 250-365-8610
Mailto:Norbert.Kondla at gems3.gov.bc.ca       



 
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