Hello everyone ,
I am asking the process and how to register a new insect species , thats because I am sure that I’ve found a new variant of the coreidae.
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normally, i would have assumed that when you said “new”, you meant “new to iNaturalist”, but you put this discussion under Nature Talk. so maybe you actually mean “new to science”. would you clarify what you mean by “new”?
welcome to the community.
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If the species is new to science and undescribed, then you can determine it to family or genus only in iNat.
If the species is new to science and has a published description, then you can flag the genus and ask a curator to add the species to the database.
If the species has a published description but is not represented in iNat until now: Use the search function and select “Taxa”. Double check spelling and search in the databases (Catalog of Life and Encyclpedia of Life). In case the database search comes up with nothing, follow the advice on the right hand site. Picture shows the search function, with “Taxa” selected and where the database search can be found. (No results found, as spelling is off ;D).
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i think they mean new to science. i wouldnt really know what goes into that despite having found an undescribed insect. id suggest contacting an expert about it and see what they have to say. with me i was contacted and so i sent some specimens over and the next phase apparently might be like two years from now
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Congratulations on your discovery! The simplest method would be to contact an expert on Coreidae. There are some books and papers on methods and best practices for naming new species (for example, Winston, Judith (1999) Describing Species: Practical Taxonomic Procedure for Biologists, and Dubois, Alain (2011). “Describing New Species”. Taprobanica . 2 (1): 6. 10.4038/tapro.v2i1.2703). Very briefly: a series of individuals from a population is compared to specimens of all known closely related species, distinguishing traits are identified, and the description along with a new name must be published in a permanent medium, in compliance with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The specimens used to describe a new species or variety should be placed in a permanent collection (e.g. museum), so that future taxonomists can analyze and compare them: drawings, photographs, and purely-text descriptions and may omit or misrepresent certain important traits. There is a debate regarding the use of photographs alone in describing new species, see : Krell & Marshall (2017) “New Species Described From Photographs: Yes? No? Sometimes? A Fierce Debate and a New Declaration of the ICZN”, Insect Systematics and Diversity , 1(1): 3–19,
Disclaimer: I am not a practicing taxonomist!
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