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23 April 2014 Type specimens in modern ornithology are necessary and irreplaceable
A. Townsend Peterson
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Recent years have seen a series of new species descriptions in which no type specimen or fragmentary type specimen material was provided as documentation. These descriptions have been controversial, but the Code of Zoological Nomenclature makes clear that such nondiagnostic types are not acceptable specimen documentation. A more appropriate approach is documentation of the discovery, but without formal naming of the species, until suitable specimen documentation can be assembled.

A. Townsend Peterson "Type specimens in modern ornithology are necessary and irreplaceable," The Auk 131(3), 282-286, (23 April 2014). https://doi.org/10.1642/AUK-13-204.1
Received: 28 January 2014; Accepted: 1 February 2014; Published: 23 April 2014
KEYWORDS
description
documentation
new species
type specimen
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