BIO 406—Biological Systematics

Project

One of the works produced by systematists is the taxonomic revision, which lists all the species in a higher taxon, along with their nomenclature, descriptions, identification keys, and often inferences about their phylogeny, biogeography, and ecology. Although producing a revision most often requires original research, the bulk of it relies on previous accounts, so it is in a sense a “glorified term paper”.

Your assignment is to produce the term paper part of a taxonomic revision, in a standard format.

You'll need to pick a group of organisms for your revision, with the following attributes (intended to make the project doable):

1. It should be eukaryotic.
2. It should consist of no fewer than four or more than 20 species.
3. The group should be monophyletic, to the best of your knowledge.
4. If the group is already a recognized taxon (such as a genus or subgenus), it will be easier for you to find information about it. It should at least be an informally recognized group.
5. It will be more difficult to find information about obscure organisms.
6. You should be interested in the organisms; it’s always easier to work on things that interest you.
7. Be careful with groups that are found outside North America—make sure you have included all the species.

It's a good idea to look at recent revisions of groups that are in the same Class or Phylum as yours, to get an idea of the proper format and the sorts of issues you'll face. If you can find a modern revision of your group, it will make your job both easier and harder—easier because you'll have all the information you need, and harder because you'll have to demonstrate that you did some work yourself.

Your project will have the following format:

1. Introduction, including:
   1. Position of the group in the taxonomic hierarchy
   2. A brief account of its taxonomic history
   3. Why it is monophyletic
   4. What is its outgroup
   5. Why you are studying it
2. Dichotomous key to the species
3. List of species, for each including:
   1. Accepted name (you may use modern references or your own opinion, as long as you follow the rules of nomenclature)
   2. Basionym and objective (nomenclatural) synonyms (looked up in a nomenclator or other source)
   3. Subjective (taxonomic) synonyms (based on modern references or your own opinion, as long as you back it up with biology)
   4. Description (taken from the literature; make the descriptions as parallel as possible)
   5. Geographic range
   6. Any other interesting features of the species (e.g., “The only Hominoid that runs its own universities.”)
4. Phylogeny of the species, supported by synapomorphies compared against an outgroup (not just vague pronouncements). It doesn’t have to be right, it just has to be well-done.
5. Conclusions, wrapping it all up and making sense of it.
6. Bibliography

It must be word-processed, and must include bibliographic citations of the references used (if you’re uncertain about bibliographic citation, see Introduction to the literature of biology and Formatting a bibliography from BIO 190).

The project is due at the beginning of class on Monday, March 8, 2004.