Comments on “Helping Solve the ‘Other’ Taxonomic Impediment: Completing the Eight Steps to Total Enlightenment and Taxonomic Nirvana” by Evenhuis (2007)

Abstract

Everyone agrees that describing biodiversity is lagging far behind 1) discovery of new biodiversity, and 2) extinction of biodiversity. In recent years there have been a number of different opinions on what to do about the slow rate of publication of new species descriptions. Some see the impediment as a complex interaction of low funding, and slow adoption of new molecular techniques and informatics (e.g., Wheeler et al., 2004). Evenhuis (2007), on the other hand, in “Helping Solve the ‘Other’ Taxonomic Impediment: Completing the Eight Steps to Total Enlightenment and Taxonomic Nirvana”, sees the major impediment in the work habits of individual taxonomists. Too many taxonomists are collecting, sorting, identifying, but then failing to follow through and publish. Evenhuis cites his personal experience with an insect inventory of the Fiji Islands, and apparently his problem is not unique in biodiversity inventories (Evenhuis, 2007).