Paleonet: Expressing uncertainty

[David Holloway]

The ? should always follow the questioned taxonomic name, never before, so inconsistency is not an issue. Clarity of meaning is the important criterion. Placing the ? before the generic name is open to ambiguity – is ?Agenus aspecies questioning the genus or species, or both?

David


From: Paleonet <paleonet-bounces+dhollow=museum.vic.gov.au at paleonet.org> On Behalf Of Pierre & Peta Kruse
Sent: Wednesday, 9 December 2020 9:29 AM
To: PaleoNet <paleonet at paleonet.org>
Subject: Re: Paleonet: Expressing uncertainty

Aagh! Why should the ? follow the taxon name, when all the others precede it? I can't stand this inconsistency! For consistency's sake, put the ? before the taxon name, not after it. What's so sacrosanct about Agenus? aspecies??
Pierre

On Wed, 9 Dec 2020 at 02:23, Plotnick, Roy E <plotnick at uic.edu<mailto:plotnick at uic.edu>> wrote:
I have a specimen from a new locality that I can with some, but not complete certainty, assign to an existing species. In the Systematic Paleontology section of the paper, what is the best way to formally express this uncertainty?  Where does the “?” go?

While we are it , what is the current best practice for describing uncertainty of identification or taxonomic placement; i.e., what is the modern usage of .aff, .cf, ?, sp., incertae sedis, and so on.  Is there a standard reference on usage?
Thanks - Roy

Roy E. Plotnick
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