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Entomological Research Letters

2024 Volume 4 Issue 2
Creative Commons License

Taxonomic Revision in the Genomic Era Requires Reproducible Treatment of Species Concepts, Synonymy, and Changing Evidence


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  1. Department of Taxonomic Revision and Reproducible Systematics, Faculty of Life Sciences, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
  2. Department of Species Concepts and Synonymy Treatment, Faculty of Biosciences, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
  3. Department of Changing Evidence and Systematic Updates, Faculty of Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
  4. Department of Genomic Taxonomy and Revision Practice, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany.
Abstract

Genomic datasets have transformed insect systematics by increasing the resolution with which population structure, lineage divergence, introgression, discordance and cryptic diversity can be detected. Yet greater analytical resolution does not by itself make taxonomic revision more reproducible. Species boundaries remain interpretive conclusions formed from evidence under an explicit or implicit species concept, while synonymy and splitting additionally require historical names, type-associated information, geography, morphology and other evidence to be reconciled with contemporary molecular results. This perspective argues that revision reproducibility therefore depends on preserving the inferential path between observation and nomenclatural action rather than merely preserving sequence data or executable analyses. We develop a proposed Revision-Provenance Framework that separates evidence classes, analytical outputs, species criteria, taxonomic interpretations, historical name application and subsequent evidence updates. Published insect revisions show why these distinctions matter: genome-scale analyses can support synonymy, reveal previously unrecognized species, expose conflicts with mitochondrial diagnostics, or alter higher-level classification, and the direction of change is strongly dependent on taxon, geography, sampling and analytical assumptions. Historical names constitute a separate evidential problem because genomic lineages cannot be assigned nomenclatural identity without traceable connections to specimens, types and prior usage. The framework consequently treats revision as a versioned scientific decision whose rationale should remain reconstructable when evidence changes. It is proposed as an auditable organizational architecture, not as a validated algorithm for discovering objectively correct species boundaries.


How to cite this article
Vancouver
Müller A, Weber S, Hoffmann J, Schneider L, Klein T. Taxonomic Revision in the Genomic Era Requires Reproducible Treatment of Species Concepts, Synonymy, and Changing Evidence. Entomol Res Lett. 2024;4(2):42-51. https://doi.org/10.51847/miojxpznbk
APA
Müller, A., Weber, S., Hoffmann, J., Schneider, L., & Klein, T. (2024). Taxonomic Revision in the Genomic Era Requires Reproducible Treatment of Species Concepts, Synonymy, and Changing Evidence. Entomological Research Letters, 4(2), 42-51. https://doi.org/10.51847/miojxpznbk
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