Reinforcing the foundations of ornithological nomenclature: Filling the gaps in Sherborn’s and Richmond’s historical legacy of bibliographic exploration

By

Dickinson, Edward C.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2016

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

550

Pages

107-134

Subjects

dates of publication , family-group names , genus-group names , ICZN Code , LANs , objective synonyms , Ornithology , priority , species-group names , Stability , subjective synonyms , synonymy , taxon-sampling , Verification , ZooBank

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.550.10170

 

Abstract

Due to its public popularity, ornithology has a huge corpus of scientific publication for a relatively small number of species. Although there are global checklists of currently recognised taxa, there has been only limited, mainly individual, effort to build a nomenclatural database that the science of ornithology deserves. This is especially true in relation to concise synonymies. With the arrival of ZooBank and the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the time has come to develop synonymies and to add fuller bibliographic detail to databases. The preparation for both began at the start of the 20th century with extensive work by Sherborn and Richmond. I discuss their legacy, offer notes on significant work since then, and provide suggestions for what remains to be done. To make solid the foundations for ornithological nomenclature and taxonomy, especially for synonymies, ornithologists will need to collaborate much more and contribute to the digital infrastructure.