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LINNAEAN NOMENCLATURE—UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF TAXONOMISTS—AND THE SPORAE DISPERSAE (WITH A COMMENTARY ON HUGHES' PROPOSAL)
Author(s) -
Jansonius Jan
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
taxon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1996-8175
pISSN - 0040-0262
DOI - 10.2307/1220144
Subject(s) - nomenclature , phylocode , taxon , herbarium , taxonomy (biology) , circumscription , plant taxonomy , systematics , confusion , biology , zoology , linguistics , genealogy , ecology , computer science , cladistics , history , phylogenetic tree , psychology , artificial intelligence , philosophy , biochemistry , gene , psychoanalysis
Summary A historical perspective reviews the origins of plant taxonomy and its relationship with plant fossils. Linnaeus contributed the notion of binomial nomenclature with the sole purpose of providing a label for the species. Subjective attributes such as stratigraphic occurrence or presumed phylogenetic relationship have no place in taxonomic circumscription. Names of taxa are stabilized by nomenclatural types, to which the name is permanently attached. Nomenclature and taxonomy are entirely different concepts. The I.C.B.N, provides Rules for stabilizing the nomenclature, and strict adherence to these is beneficial to all palynologists. Their judgement on how to best group and subdivide their material may vary; proper nomenclatural procedures will allow later workers to re‐arrange these data without confusion. Practical problems of spore systematics result from imperfect knowledge and understanding. Virtually identical problems are faced by palaeobotanists working with named parts of plants, by mycologists or phycologists working with named stages in life cycles, and even by neobotanists working with incomplete herbarium specimens. There are no reasons for palynologists to aim for nomenclatural procedures different from those of other plant taxonomists. Recent suggestions by Boulter and Pirozynski and proposals by Hughes to change the I.C.B.N, so as to give special consideration to special groups of fossils are ill considered and here rejected.