[Annelida] Hirudo species confusion in the news

[Kirk Fitzhugh]

Lena,

I was questioning the matter of whether or not the groups of leeches in the study can only be referred to species by way of nucleotide data, and no other characters whatsoever. I interpreted some of the statements in the paper to suggest that there are other characters, maybe biochemical and pigmentation, that are relevant. The danger with the barcoding mentality is that it promotes ignoring all data except some set of sequences. Since species do not, and cannot, have the ontological status of individuals, selecting a set of data to the exclusion of other, relevant, data is irrational. I address these sorts of issues in my total evidence paper in Biology & Philosophy and in my Zootaxa paper.

Kirk

-----------------------------------------------------
J. Kirk Fitzhugh, Ph.D.
Curator of Polychaetes
Invertebrate Zoology Section
Research & Collections Branch
Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
900 Exposition Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90007

Phone:   213-763-3233
FAX:     213-746-2999
e-mail:  kfitzhug from nhm.org
http://www.nhm.org/research/annelida/staff.html
http://www.nhm.org/research/annelida/index.html
----------------------------------------------------



-----Original Message-----
From: annelida-bounces from oat.bio.indiana.edu on behalf of Elena Kupriyanova
Sent: Wed 4/11/2007 6:17 PM
To: annelida from magpie.bio.indiana.edu
Subject: Re: [Annelida] Hirudo species confusion in the news
 
Kirk,

So, do you disagree with the conclusions of the paper or not? Do you 
argue that there was no species confusion? Could you clarify this please?
Also, I wonder if you could point out a taxonomic/phylogenetic paper 
that would be in your opinion an clear example of a rational practice of 
good science? I think all of us would benefit from following such an 
example in our research.
Thanks!
Lena

> It's amusing how the authors state that 'Accurate annotation of 
> bioactive compounds relies on precise species determination,' and even 
> provide an illuminating distinction in pigment patterns between 
> 'species' in their Fig. 1.  Yet, they forego all these (and no doubt 
> other) relevant characters in lieu of some sequences to proclaim ' DNA 
> barcoding distinguishes European medicinal leech species.'
>
> I wonder to what extent the need to publish overshadows the more 
> rational practices of good science. Plus, my tax dollars went into the 
> production of this paper.
>
> Kirk
>
> At 01:51 PM 4/11/2007, Geoff Read wrote:
>
>> By the way the authors have DNA Barcoding as a keyword. :-)
>>
>> Geoff
>> -- 
>>   Geoff Read <g.read from niwa.co.nz>
>>    http://www.annelida.net/
>>    http://www.niwascience.co.nz/ncabb/
>>
>>
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>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> J. Kirk Fitzhugh, Ph.D.
> Curator of Polychaetes
> Invertebrate Zoology Section
> Research & Collections Branch
> Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
> 900 Exposition Blvd
> Los Angeles CA 90007
>
> Phone:   213-763-3233
> FAX:         213-746-2999
> e-mail:   kfitzhug from nhm.org
> http://www.nhm.org/research/annelida/staff.html
> http://www.nhm.org/research/annelida/index.html
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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> Resources: http://www.annelida.net

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