"Dark taxonomy": A new protocol for overcoming the taxonomic impediments for dark taxa and broadening the taxon base for biodiversity assessment.

ABSTRACT: We are entering the sixth mass extinction with little data for "dark taxa", although they comprise most species. Much of the neglect is due to the fact that conventional taxonomic methods struggle with handling thousands of specimens belonging to hundreds of species. We thus here propose a new strategy that we call "dark taxonomy". It addresses (i) taxonomic impediments, (ii) the lack of biodiversity baselines and (iii) the low impact of revisionary research. Taxonomic impediments are reduced by carrying out revisions at small geographic scales to keep the number of specimens low. The risk of taxonomic error is reduced by delimiting species based on two types of data. We furthermore show that dark taxonomy can yield important biodiversity baseline data by using samples obtained with biomon

SUBMITTER: Meier R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11891956 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature