Excerpt from Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall's excellent Troublesome Science: The Misuse of Genetics in Understanding Race (2018). Linnaeus was entirely correct in assuming we should know who we are (and, even more importantly, who we want to reproduce with). But complications have arisen anyway. In the interests of practicality, modern taxonomists have amplified the concept of the type specimen far beyond that of the holotypes from which original descriptions are drawn. “Allotypes,” “neotypes,” “syntypes,” and “lectotypes,” among many others, can be invoked when a researcher identifying a type encounters some procedural hitch. For instance, when a holotype is lost (which happens occasionally, because of bombing, bad curation of a collection, or other causes), there are rules to govern its replacement by a lectotype, which will now be the “go-to” specimen.
Who is the Type Specimen for Homo sapiens?
Who is the Type Specimen for Homo sapiens?
Who is the Type Specimen for Homo sapiens?
Excerpt from Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall's excellent Troublesome Science: The Misuse of Genetics in Understanding Race (2018). Linnaeus was entirely correct in assuming we should know who we are (and, even more importantly, who we want to reproduce with). But complications have arisen anyway. In the interests of practicality, modern taxonomists have amplified the concept of the type specimen far beyond that of the holotypes from which original descriptions are drawn. “Allotypes,” “neotypes,” “syntypes,” and “lectotypes,” among many others, can be invoked when a researcher identifying a type encounters some procedural hitch. For instance, when a holotype is lost (which happens occasionally, because of bombing, bad curation of a collection, or other causes), there are rules to govern its replacement by a lectotype, which will now be the “go-to” specimen.