Revolving images and multi-image keys open new horizons in descriptive taxonomy
Tuesday, September 3, 2013 - 09:20
in Biology & Nature
Only a fraction of the biodiversity on the planet is known to scientists and exploration of new places and habitats continue to yield exciting discoveries and new species to describe by taxonomists. This task is becoming increasingly urgent as a function of the continuous overexploitation of natural resources and destruction of habitats. In fact, it has recently been estimated that it takes on average 21 years from the discovery of a species in nature to its formal scientific description. The 'shelf life' can sometimes be significantly longer, as for the millipede Ommatoiulus schubarti found in Spain in 1863 and just very recently described in 2012.