I request brethren from the research and academic community to answer the following question. What is the procedure of writing a manuscript (article/ note/ short communication, whatever it be!) dealing with rediscovery/ new report or extended geographical report of any taxa, be it plant, animal, fungal or lichen?
Taxon rediscovery, extended geographical report or new report all are very subjective and the researcher only may judge the genuinity of his finding. If he/she is confident about his finding it can be communicated as an article/note or short communication to an appropriate journal in their prescribed format. Each journal may also have yardsticks to measure the manuscript appropriate for them. Finally researcher can find an appropriate journal and publish.
To clarify it, there is no specific criteria for time span, area of distribution etc for any of the above category. What is the interval to be considered for a rediscovery from previous record? What is the spatial difference to consider it as a new geographical report or a new report? (one can claim new report for an adjacent district/ an adjacent state or even a country).
Dear Ankur,
Dr. Narayanan has explained nicely.
Please go through the attached publications for a clear conception.
Best wishes,
Subir.
Dear Ankun, the previous answer are perfect, however in the same paper you could talk about both the rediscovering, that is a new report for a new or extended geographic distribution. It is very good oportunity the review the taxa and write about all. It is very important for the conservation of a rare species.
Thank you, Dr. Mohanan, Dr. Bandopadhyay and Dr. Borroto-Páez for your help in context of the referred question.
Ankur J Saikia
There is a good paper on this matter by Luis A. Sánchez-González. The title is "When a "new record" is a real new record: considerations for its publication" and it is available at :
http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1870-74592013000100006 [HUITZIL (2013) 14(1):17-21]
It is in Spanish although it has an English abstract. This might prove helpful.
The paper referred to by Dr Gomez is a good guide to making a judgement about the nature of the record, How to publish it will depend very much on the status of the species you are dealing with, and the extent to which your record alters our perception of its range. For many invertebrates, there are few records simply because there have been few recorders. It may be relatively easy to make "new" records. Individual records are usually sent to a Society's database or to a national recording center. In the UK we have the NBN (National Biodiversity Network). A new record would have to have very great interest for even a relatively specialist journal to publish it as a separate paper. And even then, it would need to be enhanced by a discussion of the habitat, associated fauna and flora and its biogeographical significance. Obviously, a new record of a very rare and well-studied species will command the most attention, as will a record that genuinely extends the geographical range significantly.
In general, most records, new or otherwise, are submitted to some recording scheme, and there are periodic reports listing those that are "new" and acknowledging the recorder.. Often, as with invasive species, there are many new records each year, and it is only when there are enough to detect a trend that a paper is worth writing.
Dear Ankur J. Saikia,
Acalyptris platani (Müller-Rutz, 1934, a species of pygmy moths, was recorded in the Crimea for the first time. It represented the easternmost record of this Sub-mediterranean insect species in Europe.
We have documented it (see attached or at http://www.balticamerican.org/files/publications/177__Easternmost_record_of_Acalyptris_platani.pdf).
This is our example of how to deal with a new insect record. What you think, can it be somehow useful to you?
Kind regards,
Jonas
The Journal Check List (biotaxa.org/cl/) is devoted to such records. You can find many similar papers there.
For invasive species the journal Bioinvasions Records is devoted too.
www.reabic.net/journals/bir/
Ankur,
Here I include an additional example of an article I wrote with other colleagues on extended distribution (in this case the discovery of an unusual population of a palm). We also took the opportunity to include an account on the conservation status of this rare palm on Mona Island.
When you find in any area a taxa which distribution is unknowed for that,you must to procedure of following way:a.you must to be sure this taxa is a new record for the area;b.you must loocking for in the references bibliography, the distribution of that taxa,and this way you are will sure that taxa is new record;c.when all these data you must to writte a small introduction where you present the problem with the taxa founded;d.small description of the taxa;e.knowed distribution of the taxa;f: new record of the taxa;g:a conclusion if it is possible and last bibliography.
In herpetology, those discoveries are typically presented in the peer-reviewed journal Herpetological Review. Data can include the specimen itself deposited in a museum or even a digital photo. Date, location (GPS coordinates), habitat, and so on ... collector or photographer.
Thank you, Dr. Cameron, Dr. Stonis, Dr. Moro and Dr. Borronto-Paez.
I thank Dr. Santiago-Valenti, Dr. Zampon, Dr. Acosta and Dr. Schuett for their valuable comments.
It is worth pointing out that not all journals in a field consider these kinds of findings worth publishing. And not all journals publish short notes either. And even for those journals that do publish short notes, many demand that the short note to be of as high a quality as possible. So it is not always easy to get this kind of finding published.
Usually this is possible in Journals which focus on regional and/or national faunistic/floristic data. Very rarely this is possible also in big Journals with impact factor, but this is usually just in case of findings like was "Latimeria", ie. when it is a principially new finding eg. of organism considered fossil, or, at least an iconoic, large species (bird, mammal, etc.) considered for long time extinct.
DEar Ankur
There is nothing to be added after the explanation you have received and the article you which Subir da send to you better understanding.
With regards
Sunit
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