Taxonomic Merge 145984
(提交於 2024-08-20)
|
|
已合併至 |
|
評論
The observations can still be split. The species I worked on today are all mapped.
I admit that I could have done this in one step, but I didn't think of it and to be honest, it's also because many iNaturalist users simply ignore subspecies or varieties as if they had no taxonomic significance. There were extremely few observations identified as Polygala cruciata var. cruciata and as Polygala cruciata var. aquilonia.
Polygala aquilonia has been recognized as a valid species since 2017!
Even if you take into account that POWO sometimes takes some time to switch to the current taxonomy, it still took several years to adapt the name to iNaturalist.
And that happened purely by chance. My focus wasn't on that at all, but on the transfer to Senega.
If Polygala aquilonia had been the valid name on iNaturalist for years, the current problem would not exist because the corresponding plants would have been identified as Polygala aquilonia.
In general, hardly any curator seems to dare to touch the old species profiles. Most species profiles did not have a single synonym entered there before. I think it's a shame that there are not more people who make sure that the taxonomy is as complete and up-to-date as possible.
You may notice that I am a little disappointed, I apologize, but I had to address the topic.
Yes, it's much the same problem we've had for years of too many taxa and too few curators. I just found out today about yet another group for which we are behind POWO that's going to be much more difficult to address.
Are you going to commit an atlased split of Senega cruciata?
Yes I am working on it, the problem is that there is a lot of overlap. Whatever I do, a lot of observations need to be re-identified...
If Senega aquilonia is to be recognized at species rank, then Polygala cruciata should have been split rather than swapped into Senega cruciata. The northern populations are now all incorrectly identified.