Octopodiformes is now 'complete'

iNaturalist is working towards having complete taxon schemes and they are an important part of the site's future. (I'm particularly excited to see how many insect orders can be completed in the future.) In order to help get as many taxa complete as possible, I combed through Octopodiformes (the octopuses and vampire squid) to make sure our taxonomic backbone mirrors the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). I'm happy to report that we are now up-to-date, with the exception of the following discrepancies:

intentional deviations from WoRMS:
Japetella heathi is an unreviewed taxon on WoRMS. I did not add it to iNaturalist and I recommend waiting on clarification from WoRMS.
Eledone nigra is mysteriously not anywhere on WoRMS. It is not even a junior synonym. This taxon is not too obscure (it has its own Wikipedia page) and is acknowledged by SANBI. I think it should be considered valid here and left alone.
Polypus was not added to iNat. While it is an accepted genus on WoRMS, it has no valid children. Its only child is nomen dubium. All other members of Polypus have been moved elsewhere, primarily to Octopus or Muusoctopus.
Sasakinella was not added to iNat. It is another “accepted” genus on WoRMS with no valid children.

other potential issues:
Opisthoteuthis albatrossi is accepted on WoRMS, but its validity is dubious. It closely resembles Opisthoteuthis californiana and some people consider them synonymous. It has not been seriously reviewed since its discovery in 1920.
Octopus hongkongensis, an accepted taxon on WoRMS, was a junior synonym of Enteroctopus dofleini on iNat. I suspect this comes from EOL’s taxonomic backbone. I added it to iNat because we recognize WoRMS as an authority over EOL, which is not always the most accurate taxonomic resource. Additional authorities like SeaLifeBase treat O. hongkongensis as its own taxon and pictures of the octopuses do not resemble E. dofleini.
Octopus sinensis, an accepted taxon on WoRMS, was a junior synonym of Octopus vulgaris on iNat. Same issue as O. hongkongensis.
Octopus stictochrus, an accepted taxon on WoRMS, was a junior synonym of Octopus penicillifer on iNat. Same issue as O. hongkongensis.
Octopus warringa, an accepted taxon on WoRMS, was a junior synonym of Octopus huttoni on iNat. Same issue as O. hongkongensis.
Scaeurgus patagiatus, an accepted taxon on WoRMS, was a junior synonym of Scaeurgus unicirrhus on iNat. Same issue as O. hongkongensis.

While I love cephalopods, I would not call myself an expert on them, so please let me know if there are any other discrepancies and I will add them to the list above. I have tagged the relevant people below who I believe would be great taxon curators. The next course of action would be to curate and 'complete' Nautiloidea and Decapodiformes, the latter of which is a particularly large taxon and would benefit from multiple hands.

Publicado el agosto 6, 2018 09:53 TARDE por bobby23 bobby23

Comentarios

@anudibranchmom @davidr @duarte @maractwin @nzshells @susanhewitt ... Let me know if you guys are interested!

Publicado por bobby23 hace más de 5 años

Thank you very much bobby23 for tackling this! I know almost nothing about cephalopods, so I really don't have any comments except to thank you and to encourage other people to try clearing up other marine tax using WoRMS, with the understanding that whatever taxon you choose, it will require further fine-tuning over the coming years, as WoRMS is constantly updated to reflect new research.

Publicado por susanhewitt hace más de 5 años

@bobby23 What a ton of work! Thank you! Perhaps @bernardpicton (who's a curator on WoRMS among many other things) may be able to help with cleaning WoRMS up?

Publicado por anudibranchmom hace más de 5 años

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