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In 1901, Forel described an ant species from a relatively poorly known genus of ants from North America, naming it Strumigenys pilinasis. In 1931 M. R. Smith obtained the holotype and redescribed it, and he included a first illustration. The description was incomplete and the illustration resembled Strumigenys brevisetosa Smith, 1935, more than it resembled S. pilinasis, which led subsequent taxonomists to make consistent misidentifications and to consider S. brevisetosa to be a synonym of S. pilinasis. Here I redescribe both S. pilinasis and S. brevisetosa (revived status). Strumigenys manni Wesson & Wesson, 1939, and S. ohioensis Kennedy & Schramm, 1933, are new junior synonyms of S. pilinasis, and S medialis Kennedy & Schramm, 1933, is a new junior synonym of S. brevisetosa.
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Navigating the Ship of Theseus from typology to cartography
Taxonomy is the business of describing and naming organismal diversity. What that means exactly must shift as our conceptual framework shifts (as it did during the time of Darwin) and as what we are able to see shifts as a result of technological assists. We are at a moment of profound conceptual and technological change. Here I give some personal thoughts on three top questions in taxonomy. Are traditional naming conventions compatible with massive cryptic genetic discontinuity? Can we agree on what we are delimiting and naming? Can we excite public interest without typology?
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- Award ID(s):
- 1932405
- PAR ID:
- 10172096
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Megataxa
- Volume:
- 1
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2703-3082
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 43 to 45
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.11646/megataxa.1.1.8
