How do people keep track of undescribed species?

If they are recognized in the literature, they are usually given a number or letter, such as Monadenia new sp. A or Helminthoglypta new sp. 3. Other times they are just referenced by common names, such as the Palomar Mt banana slug. Ideally these would be described, but researchers typically wait until they can thoroughly investigate the phylogeny and the literature before applying names. Often you will see these “placeholder” names referenced in later papers:


https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2022.848.1993

You can see how many “undescribed” species ended up getting lumped under this one name.

Whether or not there is a list of these depends on the group. If there is a checklist of known species, they usually include known undescribed species in my experience.

5 Likes