According to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), a type must be a preserved physical specimen. The current rules do not recognize a DNA sequence alone as a valid type.
Do you think in fungal/plant taxonomy naming species solely based on DNA could lead to an excessive splitting of taxa and loss of taxonomic coherence?
I wish to hear your opinion and insight on this topic.
May be because a species cannot be limited to a genome, as it is also shapped by the expression of this genome (phenotype), plus the ecological interactions which modulate this expression differently for each individual?
This has been proposed and discussed: see
(093–096) Proposals to permit nuclear DNA sequences as nomenclatural types when preservation of specimens is not feasible Susanne S. Renner Washington University, Department of Biology, Saint Louis, Missouri 63130, U.S.A. Address for correspondence: Susanne S. Renner, [email protected] DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.12607
and respective decissions....however, over time things might change - evolve!
It should not be used because a sampled sequence is not an organism. Type species have to do with the taxonomy of organisms.
In addition to Stefan, there is a good discussion by Thiele et al. 2023, Article DNA sequences as types: A discussion paper from the Special‐...
Of the several points that make things problematic, I regard the strongest "DNA methods are not universally available to all taxonomists". Maybe such practice should be strictly reduced to groups with no possibility to preserve material. An additional possibility for other groups would be limitated priority of names only based on sequences.
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