Taxonomic punchlines: metadata in biology

ABSTRACT

Biological nomenclature contains metadata that can inform researchers about a taxon’s place in nature and the namer’s place in contemporary science and culture. The socio-scientific content of that metadata, and the story it conveys about the origin of a scientific name, hold value for taxonomy and interest for the public in general. However, such metadata are perishable if not hard-coded into literature. Accordingly, the present paper attempts to document the use and value of socio-scientific metadata through examples of whimsical taxonomic names. In the process, I capture hitherto unpublished views on this topic expressed by George Gaylord Simpson, the twentieth century's most distinguished vertebrate palaeontologist and a co-founder of the modern synthetic theory of evolution, along with personal perspectives of many of the eminent palaeozoologists and biologists of his time. The principal conclusion is that whimsical names will surely increase in their ubiquity in scientific literature, and this commends acknowledgement in the international zoological code to encourage the preservation of their origin stories.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Species
• nomenclature
• taxonomy
• whimsical
• humour
• George Gaylord Simpson

Acknowledgments

For their insightful comments that greatly improved the manuscript, I thank Roger D. K. Thomas, Franklin & Marshall College, and an anonymous reviewer supplied by the journal. This paper and the early research on which it is based would not have been possible without the kindness of the American palaeontologists and zoologists who responded to my initial survey in 1974 conducted for J. T. Gregory’s history of palaeontology course, and the entomologists, microbiologists, palaeoanthropologist, botanists and other biologists in the United Kingdom and elsewhere who generously replied to my follow-up invitation and inquiries in the mid-1980s. For their helpful responses I thank them as follows:

Letters from the 1970s: D. Baird, L. Barnes, K. E. Caster, G. A. Cooper, R. A. Davis, M. R. Dawson, R. Denison, R. Estes, R. H. Flower, H. J. Garbani, C. L. Gazin, N. Hotton III, H. Howard, F. A. Jenkins, Jr., B. Lander, D. A. Lawson, V. J. Maglio, L. G. Marshall, M. C. McKenna, J. Munthe, E. C. Olson, J. H. Ostrom, Mrs. B. Patterson (for B. Patterson who was in the field), J. Phillips, L. P. Plas, Jr., L. B. Radinsky, C. A. Repenning, E. S. Richardson, D. E. Savage, B. Schaeffer, G. G. Simpson, B. H. Slaughter, B. Takagi, R. G. Van Gelder, L. Van Valen, P. P. Vaughn, S. D. Webb, B. Weigel, S. P. Welles, D. P. Whistler, R. W. Wilson, A. E. Wood, M. O. Woodburne.

Letters from the 1980s: D. V. Ager, M. Archer, P. H. Arnaud, Jr., I. R. Ball, G. G. Bentley, M. J. Benton, R. J. Berry, F. A. Bisby, A. Boucot, D. J. Bradley, M. Briggs, R. K. Brooke, R. K. Brummitt, L. Burak, A. J. Cain, J. Cloudsley-Thompson, D. H. Collins, D. T. Donovan, M. A. Edwards, T. Eisner, H. E. Evans, J. H. Fiddian-Green, P. F. Fields, O. S. Flint, G. E. Fogg, C. Gow, J. C. Greig, G. L. Guy, B. Halstead, D. M. Henderson, D. Heppell, D. C. Houston, D. L. Hull, E. A. Jarzembowski, M. Jollie, D. H. Kavanaugh, J. Larson, J. Laundon, R. M. Laws, R. E. Leakey, L. Marincovich, Jr., A. Menke, P. D. Moore, J. Morrell, S. Conway Morris, D. Murphy, R. J. O’Connor, P. N. O’Donoghue, N. Pennick, F. H. Perring, C. B. Philip, K. J. Plasterk, H. Platt, J. Postgate, J. W. Pulawski, D. Pilbeam, T. Rich, W. D. I. Rolfe, E. L. Simons, P. J. Spangler, W. T. Stearn, A. Sutcliffe, P. V. Tobias, B. D. Turner, S. van der Spoel, A. Watson, F. C. Whitmore, Jr., M. R. Wilson, P. Woolf, E. Yochelson, and S. Zuckerman, OM, KCB, FRS.

Not recognised here by name, but gratefully acknowledged nonetheless, are ‘anonymous sources,’ grad students and professors who transmitted their input through the ‘oral tradition.’

For permission to use documents reproduced in this paper I thank the following institutions and individuals: The American Philosophical Society; David Austin Estate; M. R. Dawson; Field Museum of Natural History; Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University; New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources; L. P. Plas, Jr.; Princeton University; Tribune News Service (New Scientist); and Yale Peabody Museum; and those who assisted in my quest for permissions: J. D. Archibald, W. Huff, J. W. Schopf, B. Van Valkenburgh.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Supplementary material

Supplementary data for this article can be accessed here.