# "Taxonomic vandalism" in Dendrobatidae?



## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

A Few Bad Scientists Are Threatening to Topple Taxonomy | Science | Smithsonian

This was an interesting read for me. I am not very up on the literature, so most of this was new to me. It seems that, based on some of the allopatric speciation angles discussed in the articles, that our wee frog friends might be prime targets for this type of thing. Do we know whether these vandals are operating in taxa near and dear to our hearts?

Mark


----------



## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

Taxonomy has been in upheaval for sometime. DNA has run through naming conventions like a typhoon. In mycology, it's devastating- fungi being very old have family branches on every continent with great diversity in appearance of what we are now realizing are basically the same genetic species. But some live on wood in trees and some eat dung in caves (that's kind of an exaggeration, but somewhat accurate I am told) yet they are the "same" organism.
Now we get to add people naming taxa because they have a blog. It's the "fake news" of science. This is perhaps the issue of our times: fragmentation in media, authority and world views. It has become far too easy to don the appearance of competence and authority with slick websites and streaming media. I have many friends who don't have a clue about how to discern fact from B.S. Googling doesn't always help because relevance is judged by popularity as well as "credibility".
This could get worse before it gets better, but from what I've seen the naming of neo-tropical aposamatic anurans is being done both responsibly and thoroughly. There will be upheaval though, if only because Linaeus didn't have a DNA lab.


----------



## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

It has happened already in the dart frog world... If I remember correctly, Ranitomeya was created in a news letter without any formal description, or holotype...other than it was a little red frog but due to the loophole was accepted in later revisions. 

The guy in Australia has been doing that crud for a really long time, he doesn't do any real research, just picks a species and self publishes a new name often based on family or friends. Due to the loophole, a refutation of the 'new name" requires real effort and systematics, and DNA to disprove his claims so it really is a pain in the rear. 

some comments 

Ed


----------

