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Abstract A checklist ofLichen-forming, Lichenicolous and Allied Fungi of Ecuadoris presented with a total of 2599 species, of which 39 are reported for the first time from the country. The names of three species,Hypotrachyna montufariensis,H. subpartitaandSticta hypoglabra, previously not validly published, are validated.Pertusaria oahuensis, originally introduced by Magnusson as ‘ad interim’, is validated asLepra oahuensis. The formLeucodermia leucomelosf.albociliatais validated. Two new combinations,Fissurina tectigeraandF. timida, are made, andPhyscia mobergiiis introduced as a replacement name for the illegitimateP. lobulataMoberg non (Flörke) Arnold. In an initial step, the checklist was compiled by reviewing literature records of Ecuadorian lichen biota spanning from the late 19th century to the present day. Subsequently, records were added based on vouchers from 56 collections participating in theConsortium of Lichen Herbaria, a Symbiota-based biodiversity platform with particular focus on, but not exclusive to, North and South America. Symbiota provides sophisticated tools to manage biodiversity data, such as occurrence records, a taxonomic thesaurus, and checklists. The thesaurus keeps track of frequently changing names, distinguishing taxa currently accepted from ones considered synonyms. The software also provides tools to create and manage checklists, with an emphasis on selecting vouchers based on occurrence records that can be verified for identification accuracy. Advantages and limitations of creating checklists in Symbiota versus traditional ways of compiling these lists are discussed. Traditional checklists are well suited to document current knowledge as a ‘snapshot in time’. They are important baselines, frequently used by ecologists and conservation scientists as an established naming convention for citing species reported from a country. Compiling these lists, however, requires an immense effort, only to inadequately address the dynamic nature of scientific discovery. Traditional checklists are thus quickly out of date, particularly in groups with rapidly changing taxonomy, such as lichenized fungi. Especially in megadiverse countries, where new species and new occurrences continue to be discovered, traditional checklists are not easily updated; these lists necessarily fall short of efficiently managing immense data sets, and they rely primarily on secondary evidence (i.e. literature records rather than specimens). Ideally, best practices make use of dynamic database platforms such as Symbiota to assess occurrence records based both on literature citations and voucher specimens. Using modern data management tools comes with a learning curve. Systems like Symbiota are not necessarily intuitive and their functionality can still be improved, especially when handling literature records. However, online biodiversity data platforms have much potential in more efficiently managing and assessing large biodiversity data sets, particularly when investigating the lichen biota of megadiverse countries such as Ecuador.
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This content will become publicly available on April 21, 2026
On the basis of stasis: documentation of taxon durations in paleontology and the necessity of museum voucher specimens
Abstract Most species exhibit morphological stasis following speciation, and this is a key feature of the concept of punctuated equilibria. Stasis results in species often having long durations on geological timescales. Durational data are fundamental to many types of paleobiological analyses and are ideally based on occurrence data represented by specimens in museum collections. Often, however, durational data are presented without supporting information about voucher specimens that document stratigraphic ranges, including first and last appearances. We use the iconic Devonian trilobiteEldredgeops ranato demonstrate that durational data can be challenging to determine at multiple taxonomic levels. Further, we show that different datasets—including Sepkoski’s published databases, the Paleobiology Database, and iDigBio—give discordant results concerning first and last occurrences. We argue that paleontologists should adopt two general best practices to help address these problems. First, systematists should clearly identify voucher specimens that represent stratigraphic occurrences of species. Second, we recommend that high-quality photographs of occurrence vouchers be placed in open access websites and be assigned public domain licensing before being paywalled by journals. Such voucher images also have a role to play in training artificial intelligence (AI) systems that will be applied to future paleobiological questions.
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- PAR ID:
- 10611186
- Publisher / Repository:
- Paleobiology
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Paleobiology
- Volume:
- 51
- ISSN:
- 0094-8373
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 8
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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