I: The Lineage of Taxonomic Revisions

1
Timeline showing taxonomic history (revisions and
nomencaltural changes) pertaining to species
comprising the imaginary genus Aus.
(v) Aus L.1758
(iii) Aus L.1758
Aus aus L.1758
Aus aus L. 1758
Aus aus L.1758
Aus bea Archer 1965
Aus cea BFry 1989
Xus Pargiter 2003
Aus cea BFry 1989
Xus bea (Archer) Pargiter 2003.
in Fry 1989
in Pargiter 2003
I The Lineage of Taxonomic Revisions The
taxonomic history of Aus L. 1758, first described
by Linnaeus in 1758 (i), is shown through four
subsequent revisions (ii v). Individual
specimen organisms are represented by the symbols
?, ?, ? etc., with nomenclatural type specimens
for species being filled ?, ?, ?. In 1965 Archer
split the species Aus bea Archer 1965 from Aus
aus L.1758 (ii), which was in turn 'split'
creating Aus ceus Fry 1989 (iii). Discovery of
new specimens in 1991 caused Tucker to re-'lump'
Aus bea Archer 1965 with the single species Aus
aus L.1758 (iv), but according to Pargiter these
new specimens indicated that bea (Archer) infact
belonged in a separate new genus as Xus bea
(Archer) Pargiter 2003 (v). Comparing the
specimen circumscription (or membership) of the
various views on the taxa it is clear that the
underlying concepts referred to by the various
names change over time. For example compare Aus
aus L.1758 in (i) versus (ii) or Aus bea Archer
1965 in (ii) versus (iii) or consider the
relationship of Aus bea in (iii) with Xus bea
(Archer) Pargiter 2003 in (v). The ambiguities
as to which concept a valid scientific name
refers are a consequence of the nomenclatural
rules based on priority of typification.
2
II Publication of a Nomenclatural Correction
(v) Aus L.1758
(iii) Aus L.1758
Aus aus L.1758
Aus aus L. 1758
Aus aus L.1758
Aus bea Archer 1965
Aus ceus BFry 1989
Aus cea BFry 1989
Xus Pargiter 2003
Xus beus (Archer) Pargiter 2003.
in Fry 1989
in Pargiter 2003
3
TAXONOMIC PUBLICATIONS
(v) Aus L.1758
(iii) Aus L.1758
Aus aus L.1758
Aus aus L. 1758
Aus aus L.1758
Aus bea Archer 1965
Aus ceus BFry 1989
Aus cea BFry 1989
Xus Pargiter 2003
Xus beus (Archer) Pargiter 2003.
in Fry 1989
in Pargiter 2003
bea and cea noted as invalid names and replaced
with beus and ceus. Pyle 1990
4
TAXONOMIC CONCEPTS
First Publication of a Concept with the Name
Aus First Publication of a Concept with the Name
Aus aus
(i) Aus L.1758
Taxon Concept 2 (Nominal) (IDcl1n) NAME Aus
L.1758
in Linneaus 1758
5
TAXONOMIC CONCEPTS
First Publication of a Concept with the Name
Aus First Publication of a Concept with the Name
Aus aus
(i) Aus L.1758
in Linneaus 1758
Taxon Concept 4 (Nominal) (IDcl2n) NAME Aus
aus L. 1758
6
TAXONOMIC CONCEPTS
Revision of Concepts Aus and Aus aus. (split Aus
aus). First Publication of a Concept with the
Name Aus bea
(ii) Aus L.1758
Aus aus L.1758
Aus bea Archer 1965
in Archer 1965
Archer 1965
Taxon Concept 7 (Nominal) (ID ca3n) NAME Aus
bea Archer 1965
7
TAXONOMIC CONCEPTS
Revision of Concepts Aus and Aus aus. (split Aus
aus). First Publication of a Concept with the
Name Aus bea
(ii) Aus L.1758
Aus aus L.1758
Aus bea Archer 1965
in Archer 1965
Archer 1965
8
TAXONOMIC CONCEPTS
Revision of Aus and Aus bea. (split Aus
bea). First Publication of a Concept with the
Name Aus cea
(iii) Aus L.1758
Aus aus L.1758
Aus bea Archer 1965
Aus cea BFry 1989
in Fry 1989
9
TAXONOMIC CONCEPTS
Revision of Aus and Aus bea. (split Aus
bea). First Publication of a Concept with the
Name Aus cea
(iii) Aus L.1758
Aus aus L.1758
Aus bea Archer 1965
Aus cea BFry 1989
in Fry 1989
10
TAXONOMIC CONCEPTS
Purely nomenclatural observation. (Rename Aus
bea). Aus bea noted as invalid name according to
the code rules of the time. Aus beus designated
as the replacement name.
Taxon Concept 14 (Original) (ID cy1) NAME Aus
beus Archer 1965 DEFINITION Is Validation
(replacement?) of Name in Original TC6
ACCORDINGTO Pyle 1990
bea and cea noted as invalid names and replaced
with beus and ceus. Pyle 1990.
Taxon Concept 15 (Nominal) (ID cy1n) NAME Aus
beus Archer 1965
Taxon Concept 16 (Original) (ID cy2) NAME Aus
ceus BFry 1989 DEFINITION Is Validation
(replacement?) of Name in Original TC11
ACCORDINGTO Pyle 1990
Taxon Concept 17 (Nominal) (ID cy2n) NAME Aus
ceus BFry 1989
11
TAXONOMIC CONCEPTS
Revision of Aus and Aus aus etc. (lump Aus aus
and A. bea). Recording of TC 19 as Aus cea,
without using amended name.
12
TAXONOMIC CONCEPTS
Revision of Aus. (create new Genus Xus, move Aus
beus to Xus beus (nov.comb.)). First Publication
of a Concept with the Name Xus. First Publication
of a Concept with the Name Xus ceus.
(v) Aus L.1758
Aus aus L. 1758
Aus ceus BFry 1989
Xus Pargiter 2003
Xus beus (Archer) Pargiter 2003.
in Pargiter 2003
Pargiter 2003
13
TAXONOMIC CONCEPTS
Revision of Aus. (create new Genus Xus, move Aus
beus to Xus beus (nov.comb.)). First Publication
of a Concept with the Name Xus. First Publication
of a Concept with the Name Xus ceus.
(v) Aus L.1758
Aus aus L. 1758
Aus ceus BFry 1989
Xus Pargiter 2003
Xus beus (Archer) Pargiter 2003.
in Pargiter 2003
Pargiter 2003
14

• Notes on TCS
• TCS represents all published concept definitions
  as a unique Taxonomic Concept
• Each first-use/definition of a name is recorded
  as an Original Taxon Concept
• We see these as the concepts of primary interest
  to Nomenclators
• They will not be interested in the definition of
  the concept
• This allows for the same concept and therefore
  GUID to be used to refer to a name and a
  concept
• Subsequent definitions of concepts reusing a name
  are Revision Concepts
• Each first use of a Name also creates a Nominal
  Concept which only exists to allow markup and
  resolution of biological data on the basis of
  undefined names.
• primarily to deal with legacy data but also
  where the degree of precision is not required.
• How does it handle Name changes
• A name change is recorded by creating a new
  original concept containing the new name, and
  related back to the first use of the name it is
  replacing (i.e. the original concept for that
  name.)
• A Concept/Name resolution service can explore all
  the names that may have been applied to a given
  concept by traversing (or creating) the links
  between a concept and the original concept for
  the name of the concept, and any nomenclatural
  relationships made to this original
  concept......see following.

15
TCori6 (Aus bea Archer 1965) sec. Archer 1965
On the basis of shared name this could be done
by string matching (which might have degrees of
certainty associated), and could be made explicit
and materialized in the system
IMPLICIT
NAME CORRECTION
TCrev10 (Aus bea Archer 1965) sec. Fry 1989
TCori14 (Aus beus Archer 1965) sec. Pyle 1990
TCori11 (Aus cea BFry 1989) sec. Fry 1989
IMPLICIT
NAME CORRECTION
TCrev19 (Aus cea Archer 1965) sec. Tucker 1991
TCori14 (Aus ceus Archer 1965) sec. Pyle 1990
A resolution service for concepts (e.g. SEEK)
could implement a system that either created
explicit links between revision concepts and
their original concept or did this
look-up/traversal at run time. Thus a concept
could be provided with its original name and
information about any other names that have been
applied to its name (via relationships to its
original concept). e.g. TCrev19 was named Aus
cea, but by following recorded or implicit
relationships the system would provide the
information that the name had been corrected to
Aus ceus (by Pyle in 1990).