Tag Archives: taxonomy

How many people does it take to describe a new species?

Posted on March 1, 2015 by

The Myth of the Solitary Taxonomist goes a bit like this: Solitary Taxonomist goes away to an exotic place, usually with at least one hazard to life and limb, usually land leeches. Collects a specimen. Recognizes it immediately as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Research News | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

High fliers: a new paper on some new arctic flies

Posted on February 27, 2015 by

Many people see the arctic as a pretty barren place, with not much biological diversity. In fact, one of the most well-known patterns in ecology — the latitudinal diversity gradient — incorporates that idea. As you leave the tropics and … Continue reading →

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Who’s that fly and WHAT is it eating? A new paper from the lab

Posted on January 22, 2015 by

One of the most widely used products of taxonomy is the identification key. A key allows somebody who isn’t a specialist on a particular group to put a name on an unknown species. At least, that’s how it all works … Continue reading →

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Spiders with an identity crisis: a new taxonomy paper

Posted on November 12, 2014 by

Two wolf spiders, whose names are Pardosa lapponica and Pardosa concinna, run across open ground all over northern Canada. Here’s the problem: these two species of spiders live in a lot of the same places, and they look very similar. Katie … Continue reading →

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The flavours of loss: a tale of a moth

Posted on July 25, 2014 by

Loss comes in many forms. Sometimes loss is a sharp, sudden thing; sometimes it’s a slow, fading twilight, creeping in so slowly you don’t even notice when it gets there. This is a story about both those kinds of loss. … Continue reading →

Posted in In the Collection, Science Culture | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

A moth, a fern, a feline: a species name story

Posted on July 11, 2014 by

As taxonomists, we give names to new species that we describe. The name is entirely up to us (within a few limits imposed by rules of grammar, and a recommendation that they not be offensive). Sometimes it’s easy to figure … Continue reading →

Posted in In the Collection | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

A fruit fly is not a mammal, and other revelations from the museum

Posted on April 18, 2014 by

There’s been a lot of discussion in the past day about a new paper published in Science. The paper is an opinion piece about an argument that’s played out many times in the past, namely: should scientists kill specimens to … Continue reading →

Posted in Science Culture, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 26 Comments