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Posted by troy h on January 20, 2003 at 09:13:22:
In Reply to: Re: AOU vs SSAR posted by TW Taggart on January 18, 2003 at 14:53:03:
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:In the history of the Collins list, a scientific name has never been changed prior to its appearing in print in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and that with very few exceptions (usually caused by someone proposing a taxonomic change), none of the common names has changed since 1978. That's why we call them "standard common names."
my question is does collins paper in herp review on implications of the evolutionary species concept count as "peer reviewed"? i know several herp systemacists that would say "no".
for example, collins uses the binomial "elaphe emoryi" on the CNAH list . . . as far as my research of the literature is concerned, the first useage of this combination in modern times was by collins in "Amphibians and Reptiles of Kansas" ... see below . . . (this discussion was written "pre-"e. slowinski")
an attempt has been made by Collins to elevate all populations of Elaphe guttata from west of the Mississippi River and Atchafalaya Basin to the status of full species, Elaphe emoryi (Collins, 1993). However, Collins (l.c.) used no biological data to support this change, instead making his elevation based upon his interpretation of the evolutionary species concept. His only criteria for elevating these populations to specific status were that previous workers had mapped them as allopatric and had found them to be morphologically distinct enough to merit subspecific status (Collins, 1991). Collins later supported his elevation of E. g. emoryi to specific status by referring to the map presented in Vaughan et al. (1996) (Collins, 2001). While this map appears to show that emoryi is completely allopatric from the "brown phase" of the corn snake as described by Vaughan et al.(l.c.), distributional records for counties between the mapped ranges of the two forms (as shown in Vaughan et. al.'s paper) do, in fact, exist (Dixon, 2000). Furthermore, Collins (2001) made no mention of the fact that he was earliest author to recognize E.g.emoryi as distinct in his own book, the Amphibians and Reptiles of Kansas (Collins, 1993). Because Collins (1993) examined no characters and did not publish his results in a peer-reviewed journal, recognition of the great plains rat snake (and related subspecies) as a full species is not warranted at this time.
apparently, collins has made this sort of ESC-based name change on his list several times (e.g. N. harteri and N. paucimaculata), all based on his 1991 paper in herp review - which was an interpretation of the ESC, etc.
troy
