Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others

Los investigadores frente a la reforma municipal : conversaciones, hallazgos y riquezas

Los gobiernos locales están llamados a sufrir reformas de índole democrática en el corto plazo. Fenómenos como el desarrollo urbano de las ciudades importantes, la mayor comunicación entre la sociedad rural y la urbana, la liberalización de la economía y el cambio del mapa político del país, generan nuevas realidades, cambios sociales y nuevas relaciones políticas entre sociedad y gobierno y entre los tres órdenes constitucionales de gobierno. De ahí la necesidad de la reforma estatal y municipal. De otro modo los avances ya logrados en el orden federal serán insuficientes para sostenerse y profundizar el cambio político y económico del país. La investigación de los procesos sociales y de los gobiernos locales se ha incrementado en los años recientes en muy diversas áreas: administración pública, finanzas públicas, participación problemas de gobierno, seguridad, desarrollo institucional de los ayuntamientos, geografía electoral y otras; y ha dado lugar a una considerable masa de conocimientos cuya movilización no sólo es necesaria sino conveniente y urgente. La contribución de los investigadores, basada en trabajos recientes, es pertinente y relevante, pues nunca como ahora esos temas han sido estudiados con detalle, metódica y sistemáticamente