Marleyimyia xylocopae

Marleyimyia xylocopae
Female holotype, photographed in Ndumo Game Preserve, South Africa on 1 December 2014
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Bombyliidae
Subfamily:	Anthracinae
Tribe:	Villoestrini
Genus:	Marleyimyia
Species:	M. xylocopae
Binomial name
Marleyimyia xylocopae Marshall & Evenhuis, 2015

Marleyimyia xylocopae is a species of bee fly from South Africa that has a similarity to the patterning of a carpenter bee Xylocopa flavicollis (De Geer, 1778) found in the region. The species is considered to be distinctive and only one of three within the genus Marleyimyia. The other members of the genus are Marleyimyia goliath described from Peninsular Malaysia and M. natalensis from southern Africa. Members in the genus have been presumed to be crepuscular or nocturnal but this species was found to be diurnal. ^[1]

Controversy about photography-based taxonomy

The species was unusual in being described on the basis of two photographs, without the collection, designation of a holotype specimen and deposition in a suitable repository. This method provoked in 2016 a controversy among taxonomists, with a paper arguing for photography-based taxonomy by Pape ^[2] (with 34 signatories), quickly followed by papers arguing against it by Krell ^[3] (with 5 signatories) and Ceríaco et al. ^[4] (with 496 authors). ^[5]

In 2017, the ICZN published a declaration, adding recommendations to the ICZN Code. ^[6] This clarified that it is in fact acceptable to describe a new species without a physical type specimen (for example, describing a species from photos), but "only under strict conditions". ^[7] This declaration was proposed by a committee on "typeless species" formed in 2016, composed of commissioners Krell (chair), Ballerio and Bouchard. ^[6]

See also

• Eulophophyllum kirki Ingrisch & Riede, 2016 — a katydid described only from photographs.

References

1. Marshall, Stephen A.; Evenhuis, Neal L. (2015). "New species without dead bodies: a case for photo-based descriptions, illustrated by a striking new species of Marleyimyia Hesse (Diptera, Bombyliidae) from South Africa". ZooKeys (525): 117–127. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.525.6143 . ISSN   1313-2989. PMC   4607853 . PMID   26487819.
2. Pape, Thomas (2016). "Taxonomy: Species can be named from photos". Nature . 537 (7620): 307. Bibcode:2016Natur.537..307P. doi: 10.1038/537307b . ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   27629630.
3. Krell, Frank T. (2016). "Taxonomy: Preserve specimens for reproducibility". Nature . 539 (7628): 168. Bibcode:2016Natur.539..168K. doi: 10.1038/539168b . ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   27830800.
4. Ceríaco, Luis M. P.; Gutiérrez, Eliécer E.; Dubois, Alain; et al. (2016). "Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences". Zootaxa . 4196 (3): 435. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4196.3.9 . hdl: 1808/22051 . ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   27988669.
5. Simon, Matt (December 16, 2016). "A Beautiful Fly Ignites a Bitter Feud Among Scientists". Wired . ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2025-03-29.
6. "Declaration 45 — Addition of Recommendations to Article 73 and of the term "specimen, preserved" to the Glossary". The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 73 (2–4): 96–97. March 1, 2017. doi: 10.21805/bzn.v73i2.a2 . ISSN   0007-5167. OCLC   7009432713.
7. Nazari, Vazrick; Yanega, Douglas (June 8, 2017). "Rules for new species from live specimens". Nature . 546 (7657): 210. doi: 10.1038/546210c . ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   28593957.