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Forum → UK Species Inventory / Dictionary → Orthotrichum striatum - extinct?
Mosses aren't my speciality, but Recorder and the NBN Gateway tell me this species is extinct - designated IUCN (2001) - Extinct... but it seems quite widespread - and we have some recent records in Lincolnsire?
Hi Charlie,
I have had a chat with Fred Rumsey and he recalls that "Orthotrichum shawii" was once on the British list and was declared extinct ... then was synonymised with O. striatum. So if you are not using the "date_to" field in your query you might be picking up a designation that has been subsequently marked as redundant.
This is similar to the Common Centaury problem that we dealt with recently. :) If using the "date_to" doesn't fix it then do get back to me.
Best wishes,
Chris R.
Uhh cripes, was afraid of that! I'll have a play with the date_to field when I get a spare 10 minutes... :)
Yes, designations are a bit of a minefield. Yours and the Common Centaury were quite complex examples but of course a taxon might change their status if they get commoner or rarer and so the "date-to" always needs to be included so that you only pull out designations that apply to the correct date-range of the report :)
Chris - just in case you hadn't spotted it, see http://forums.nbn.org.uk/viewtopic.php?id=4313
Happy new year!!
Thanks Charlie - I do tend to focus on this part of the Forum and neglect the others because I know that there are so many other good people looking after them :)
I will have a look at the data for Orthotrichum striatum & shawii and get back to you :)
Interesting one, this ... the JNCC Designations List (v3) is exactly as Mike says - listing Orthotrichum striatum as extinct without any 'date_to' field set. The row hasn't been amended so it must have gone in like this when the list was imported. In the current (2012) JNCC list it correctly shows Orthotrichum striatum but states that Orthotrichum shawii is the designated name that was designated as extinct.
It's going to be difficult (and pretty pointless) to track down why it happened but I think the cure for the problem would be to modify the v3 JNCC list to point to Orthotrichum shawii and switch off the designation with a date_to because, although it still stands for 'shawii' that species was lumped into striatum, which of course means that it can't persist and make striatum look extinct. The species 'shawii' ceased to exist as a valid species when it was lumped into striatum - it isn't purely a synonym - the taxonomic concept changed. I am guessing this is what caused the confusion when entering this list into the database.
I will confirm this with Steve and do the necessary work when I have his confirmation :)
Thanks Chris - glad you understand all that!!
Right ... I think I have it now ... and things have changed slightly. I have chatted with Fred Rumsey and this is what he says:
Hi Chris,
As I understand it the key date is 2000. That was the year that Mazimpaka et al., published an account which sprang O. shawii from synonymy with O. striatum (J. Bryol. 22:183-192). The earlier standard UK floras accepted it as a valid species eg. Dixon (1924) but it was then treated as a synonym with O. striatum by Smith (1978) and his view held sway. Its only British occurrence would seem to have been in an Ayrshire garden (Kilkerran Castle) where it was known from 1860-1873. It is therefore Extinct and I guess this is how the confusion has arisen. Hope that’s clear?
Cheers
Fred
So, I will:
- modify the JNCC Designatory checklist so that the entry for striatum points to shawii - with the blank date_to field it will remain extinct
- repoint shawii in the Nameserver so that it points to itself and becomes a recommended name
- add a row to the Organism table to list shawii as a distinct species in its own right - but extinct
:)
This has now been done and I have informed the JNCC of the change so that they can update the designatory list :)
Glad to see this has already been flagged. My own records have just been pulled back in a report as designated extinct!
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