ICZN Declaration 45: a remedy for the nomenclatural and typification dilemma regarding soft-bodied meiofaunal organisms?

摘要

Although ICZN Declaration 45 already shed some light to the issue regarding "typeless species descriptions," we here explore the assignment of new species-group taxa in the absence of a physical type-specimen in more detail. The focus is on taxonomical studies of so-called soft-bodied meiofaunal organisms, in which a deposition of physical type specimens is frequently either not possible or even not advisable at all, because they are often lost before their formal designation as a name-bearing type. We emphasize some arguments and recommendations concerning photomicrography-based taxonomy on these delicate organisms. Furthermore, we discuss the designation of illustrations as nomenclatural types in the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, a practice that is applied for some time now and without any noticeable drawbacks regarding the quality of taxonomic acts.