My question concerns with the field of spider taxonomy. It seems to be a neccessity (never observed anything to the contrary) to include descriptions of only mature specimens for a taxonomic publication on spiders. Sometimes, however, extremely rare specimens are encountered in the field for which mature specimens may not be found. My question is that is it acceptable to at least include those specimens in one's thesis work? Perhaps pertaining to a description of up to the genus level and not till the species level (as that requires the evaluation of genitalic morphology). Im particularly looking for a reply from thesis evaluators of the field. Thank you.
Dear Kumail,
Yes, if they are identifiable to the family or genus level, they can be included in the thesis and even your paper (by mentioning them as e.g. Araneus sp., Araneidae gen. sp.), it would only be problematic if one tries to designate a new name on the basis of juvenile specimens (in other words, describe a new species. I personally haven't seen this happen in modern arachnology, only in old papers) which could potentially lead to several nomen dubia.
Best,
Alireza
Dear Kumail,
Yes, if they are identifiable to the family or genus level, they can be included in the thesis and even your paper (by mentioning them as e.g. Araneus sp., Araneidae gen. sp.), it would only be problematic if one tries to designate a new name on the basis of juvenile specimens (in other words, describe a new species. I personally haven't seen this happen in modern arachnology, only in old papers) which could potentially lead to several nomen dubia.
Best,
Alireza
Dear Alireza,
Thank you for your reply. I am very clear on the issue now.
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