ZooBank

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The taxon treatment for the frog Paedophryne amauensis, mentioning the LSID for this nomenclatural act. Taxon treatment for Paedophryne amauensis.png
The taxon treatment for the frog Paedophryne amauensis , mentioning the LSID for this nomenclatural act.

ZooBank is an open access website intended to be the official International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) registry of zoological nomenclature. [3] Any nomenclatural acts (e.g. publications that create or change a taxonomic name) published electronically need to be registered with ZooBank prior to publication to be "officially" recognized by the ICZN Code of Nomenclature. Acts published in physical publications are encouraged, but not required to be registered prior to their publication.

Contents

Life Science Identifiers (LSIDs) are used as the globally unique identifier for ZooBank registration entries. [4]

The ZooBank prototype was seeded with data from Index to Organism Names (http://www.organismnames.com), which was compiled from the scientific literature in Zoological Record now owned by Thomson Reuters.

History

ZooBank was officially proposed in 2005 by the executive secretary of ICZN. [5] [6] The registry was live on 10 August 2006 with 1.5 million species entered. [7] [8]

The first ZooBank LSIDs were issued on 1 January 2008, [4] precisely 250 years after 1 January 1758, which is the date defined by the ICZN Code as the official start of scientific zoological nomenclature. Chromis abyssus was the first species entered into the ZooBank system with a timestamp of 2008-01-01T00:00:02. [9] [10] [11]

Contents

Four main types of data objects are stored in ZooBank. Nomenclatural acts are governed by the ICZN Code of Nomenclature, and are typically "original descriptions" of new scientific names, however other acts, such as emendations and lectotypifications, are also governed by the ICZN code and technically require registration by ZooBank. Publications include journal articles and other publications containing Nomenclatural Acts. Authors records the academic authorship of Nomenclatural Acts. Type Specimens record the biological type specimens of animals which are provisionally registered, until the bodies responsible for such types implement their own registries.

In addition to those, periodicals which have published articles are also entities within the system, providing access to a list of "Nomenclatural Acts" published in the periodical over time.

Electronic publications

Traditionally, taxonomic data was published in journals or books. However, with the increase in electronic publications, the ICZN established new rules that include e-publications, especially electronic only publications. Such publications are now regulated by amendments of ICZN Articles 8, 9, 10, 21 and 78. Technically, nomenclatural acts that are published in electronic only papers are not recognized if they have not been registered with ZooBank and are considered as "non-existent". [12] [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

Genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Code of Zoological Nomenclature</span> Code of scientific nomenclature for animals

The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. The rules principally regulate:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pomacentridae</span> Family of fishes

Pomacentridae is a family of ray-finned fish, comprising the damselfishes and clownfishes. This family were formerly placed in the order Perciformes but are now regarded as being incertae sedis in the subseries Ovalentaria in the clade Percomorpha. They are primarily marine, while a few species inhabit freshwater and brackish environments. They are noted for their hardy constitutions and territoriality. Many are brightly colored, so they are popular in aquaria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holotype</span> Example of an organism used to describe its species

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several examples, but explicitly designated as the holotype. Under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), a holotype is one of several kinds of name-bearing types. In the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) and ICZN, the definitions of types are similar in intent but not identical in terminology or underlying concept.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Type species</span> Term used in biological nomenclature

In zoological nomenclature, a type species is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen(s). A similar concept is used for suprageneric groups and called a type genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Type (biology)</span> Specimen(s) to which a scientific name is formally attached

In biology, a type is a particular specimen of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the defining features of that particular taxon. In older usage, a type was a taxon rather than a specimen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature</span> International non-governmental organization

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A tautonym is a scientific name of a species in which both parts of the name have the same spelling, such as Rattus rattus. The first part of the name is the name of the genus and the second part is referred to as the specific epithet in the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants and the specific name in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.

Nomenclature codes or codes of nomenclature are the various rulebooks that govern biological taxonomic nomenclature, each in their own broad field of organisms. To an end-user who only deals with names of species, with some awareness that species are assignable to families, it may not be noticeable that there is more than one code, but beyond this basic level these are rather different in the way they work.

<i>Chromis</i> Genus of fishes

Chromis is a genus of fish in the family Pomacentridae. While the term damselfish describes a group of marine fish including more than one genus, most damselfish are in the genus Chromis. These fish are popular aquarium pets due to their small size, tolerance for poor water quality, and bright colors, though their lifespans tend to be shorter than other fish.

The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently.

Chromis abyssus is a species of damselfish first discovered in 1997 and described in 2008. The 8 centimetres (3.1 in) long fish only lives more than 110 m (361 ft) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean around the coast of the Ngemelis Islands, Palau. Adults have been observed living singly or in pairs, whereas juveniles tend to live in groups.

Chromis brevirostris, or colloquially known as the shortsnout chromis, is a type of damselfish that was described in 2008 by R. Pyle, J. Earle, and B. Greene in the western Pacific Ocean. This species comes from the genus Chromis which contains eighty species and counting, including C. abyssus, C. circumaurea, C. degruyi, and C. earina. Chromis brevirostris can be found in the Pacific Ocean, located as far north as the Marshall Islands to as far south as Fiji and Vanuatu, and spanning from Palau to Paluwat of the Caroline Islands. The species’ name, Chromis brevirostris, derives from Latin origin; brevis and rostrum mean “short” and “snout” respectively. It is generally abundant in its environment, living at depths of 90–120 metres (300–390 ft), tending to live in groups ranging in size from six to several dozen.

In zoological nomenclature, an unavailable name is a name that does not conform to the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and that therefore is not available for use as a valid name for a taxon. Such a name does not fulfil the requirements in Articles 10 through 20 of the Code, or is excluded under Article 1.3.

This is a list of terms and symbols used in scientific names for organisms, and in describing the names. For proper parts of the names themselves, see List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names. Note that many of the abbreviations are used with or without a stop.

<i>Tibicen</i>

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<i>Colpocephalum</i> Genus of lice

Colpocephalum is a genus of chewing louse. Christian Ludwig Nitzsch named the genus in 1818. The Plenary Powers of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature selected Colpocephalum zebraBurmeister, 1838 as its type species in the 1950s. There are approximately 135 species in this genus, and they are ectoparasites of birds in at least a dozen different orders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central African slender-snouted crocodile</span> Species of reptile

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The Wells and Wellington affair was a dispute about the publication of three papers in the Australian Journal of Herpetology in 1983 and 1985. The periodical was established in 1981 as a peer-reviewed scientific journal focusing on the study of amphibians and reptiles (herpetology). Its first two issues were published under the editorship of Richard W. Wells, a first-year biology student at Australia's University of New England. Wells then ceased communicating with the journal's editorial board for two years before suddenly publishing three papers without peer review in the journal in 1983 and 1985. Coauthored by himself and high school teacher Cliff Ross Wellington, the papers reorganized the taxonomy of all of Australia's and New Zealand's amphibians and reptiles and proposed over 700 changes to the binomial nomenclature of the region's herpetofauna.

<i>Euthema</i> Extinct genus of gastropods

Euthema is a fossil genus of minute land snails with an operculum, terrestrial gastropod molluscs in the family Diplommatinidae from the Cretaceous Burmese and Hkamti ambers.

References

  1. Rittmeyer, Eric N.; Allison, Allen; Gründler, Michael C.; Thompson, Derrick K.; Austin, Christopher C. (2012). "Ecological guild evolution and the discovery of the world's smallest vertebrate". PLOS One . 7 (1): e29797. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...729797R. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029797 . PMC   3256195 . PMID   22253785.
  2. "ZooBank.org". zoobank.org. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  3. Chillingworth, Mark (10 April 2006). "Zoologists bank on database". Information World Review. Archived from the original on 12 April 2006.
  4. 1 2 Pyle, Richard L.; Michel, Ellinor (2008). "ZooBank: Developing a nomenclatural tool for unifying 250 years of biological information" (PDF). Zootaxa . 1950 (1950): 39–50. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1950.1.6.
  5. Polaszek, Andrew (22 September 2005). "A universal register for animal names". Nature . 437 (477): 477. Bibcode:2005Natur.437..477P. doi: 10.1038/437477a . PMID   16177765. S2CID   3085194.
  6. Yoon, Carol Kaesuk (11 October 2005). "ESSAY; In the Classification Kingdom, Only the Fittest Survive". The New York Times .
  7. "60 Seconds: Zoo surfing" (New Scientist full online access is exclusive to subscribers). New Scientist (2565). 19 August 2006.
  8. Biodiverse MySpace? Online Encyclopedia To Name All Species
  9. "Pea-Sized Seahorse Makes 'Top 10 Species' List". LiveScience. 22 May 2009.
  10. Pyle, Richard L. "Chromis abyssus Pyle, Earle & Greene, 2008". Encyclopedia of Life.
  11. "Chromis abyssus Pyle, Earle & Greene 2008". ZooBank.
  12. Nomenclature, International Commission on Zoological (9 April 2012). "Amendment of Articles 8, 9, 10, 21 and 78 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature to expand and refine methods of publication". ZooKeys (219): 1–10. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.219.3944 . ISSN   1313-2970. PMC   3433695 . PMID   22977348.
  13. "The Code Online | International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature". www.iczn.org. Retrieved 2 October 2016.