Story: Lectotype of Homo sapiens L.

[Pankaj Kumar]

Hope you will like reading this!!

All taxonomists and botanists must have heard of the term TYPE and TYPIFICATION.

When you describe a plant or animal for the first time, you have to
refer to a specimen, which according to ICBN [Vienna Code (Article
37.4)] for plants, should be a specimen in any form preserved at any
herbaria in the world. And you have to mention this information along
with the name of the herbaria and the voucher number in the manuscript
you have published using the word "type" or "holotype" or "holo" etc.

But during early times, there was no such provision and people used to
describe new species without citing any specimens. Hence in ICBN there
is an option of LECTOTYPIFICATION. In this you designate a type or
nomenclatural type for the particular taxa. This procedure is called
Lectotypification and the specimen is called Lectotype and then there
are rules for designating the lectotype.

From 1735 onwards, Carl von Linné, Latinized as Carolus Linnæus,
published his famous work, Systema Naturae in many editions. For those
who are unaware, this book contains classification of animals too. By
10th edition in 1758 he had divided Animal Kingdom into 6 groups and
he has described human beings in binomials as Homo sapiens but as for
most of his plants, he never designated a type for Homo sapiens.

So a lecotype for Homo sapiens was designated 300 years later in 1959.

Big question is, what was the lectotype for Homo sapiens L.??

Answers is "Carl von Linné"

Regards
Pankaj

--
***********************************************
"TAXONOMISTS GETTING EXTINCT AND SPECIES DATA DEFICIENT !!"

Pankaj Kumar Ph.D. (Orchidaceae)
Research Associate
Greater Kailash Sacred Landscape Project
Department of Habitat Ecology
Wildlife Institute of India
Post Box # 18
Dehradun - 248001, India

[Ritesh Choudhary]

Very interesting Pankaj!!!

I never knew this.

Thanks for sharing.
Ritesh.

[Nudrat]

Hi Pankaj,

Quite an interesting piece of information.

[Mahadeswara]

Very informative and important information, even for qualified
taxonomists.

[Pankaj Kumar]

Thanks a lot Rawat sir, Dinesh sir, Mahadeshwara sir, Ritesh, Ninad
and Nudrat for liking the story!!
Regards
Pankaj

[Gurcharan Singh]

Interesting set of information Pankaj ji

 

Just a minor correction, it was nearly 200 years later (and not 300) that lectype was designated in a casual remark by made by W. T. Stearn in 1959 in a commemerative article on the occasion of  the 200th Anniversary of 10th edition of Systema Naturae. He wrote:

 

"Since for nomenclatorial purposes the specimen most carefully studied and recorded by the author is to be accepted as the type, clearly Linnaeus himself, who was much addicted to autobiography, must stand as the type of his Homo sapiens!"

 

 

It must be mentioned that several years later Psihoyos in 1994 designated E. D. Cope, a nineteenth-century naturalist as lectotype of Homo sapiens, and this being a popular article, became more popular on the internet. But  this designation can't be maintained on two counts:

 

1. Cope was not eligible for selection as a lectotype because he wasn't among the specimens/people included by Linnaeus when he made his description (Article 74.1) - Homo sapiens was described in 1758 but Cope wasn’t born until 1840, almost 100 years later, so he definitely wasn’t included by Linnaeus.

 

2. Stearn’s valid designation in 1959 already existed before Psihoyos’ designation in 1994 and no designations after Stearn’s can be valid (Article 74.1.1).

 

More can be found in the following useful

 

http://www.jstor.org/pss/4065043   

--
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/

 

On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 12:48 PM, Mahadeswara <swamy...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Pankaj Kumar]

Accept my apologies for the mistake!!
As usual, I am poor in mathematics and it has been proved again and again :((
Pankaj

[Gurcharan Singh]

Oh no, it was a minor correction. I make more mistakes in mathematics than you.

 

--
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/

[Pankaj Kumar]

Please find the article as suggested By Dr. Gurcharan Singh sir.
Regards
Pankaj

[Gurcharan Singh]

Thanks Pankaj ji

Earlier I had read only the first page online.

 

--
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/

On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 3:13 PM, Pankaj Kumar <sahani...@gmail.com> wrote:

Please find the main reference of Stearn on lectotypification of Homo sapiens L.
Hope you all will like reading this.
Regards
Pankaj

[Pankaj Kumar]

Please find the main reference of Stearn on lectotypification of Homo sapiens L.
Hope you all will like reading this.

File was too big, got rejected. Sending low resolution version.
Regards
Pankaj