John Ross, Museum specimen labels ‘wrong 50pc of the time’, The Australian, November 17, 2015
Scientists have uncovered a colossal case of mistaken identity in the world’s museums, with estimates that every second natural history specimen is wrongly labelled.
An Oxford University study has found that up to three in five tropical plants in museum exhibitions were incorrectly or inadequately identified. The report, published this morning in the journal Current Biology, suggests curators cannot keep pace with the number of specimens coming in from the field.
The problem could stymie conservation efforts, because scientists do not understand what they are trying to save. Yet the issue could be resolved for a footballer’s bank balance.
Team leader Robert Scotland said it cost about £500 ($1070) to revise a species. “For the cost of one world-class footballer — (such as Barcelona megastar) Lionel Messi — it would be possible to monograph the entire flora of tropical plants,” he said.
The team analysed 4500 specimens of an African ginger genus and found that before a comprehensive study had been completed last year, about 58 per cent had been misidentified or given outdated names. And an exploration of a family of Asian rainforest trees revealed that 29 per cent had been named differently in different museums.
The team believes the problem is being compounded in online databases. Its analysis of almost 50,000 internet records of Ipomoea — a huge genus of flowering plants that include the sweet potato — found that 40 per cent had been given outdated names, 16 per cent had been given unrecognisable or wrong names and 11 per cent had not been identified at all at species level.
The team believes its findings are representative of a widespread problem in the identification of fauna — particularly the insect kingdom, where misidentification is rife — as well as flora. “We think a conservative estimate is that up to half the world’s natural history specimens could be incorrectly named,” said first author Zoe Goodwin.
Dr Scotland said the world’s plant collections had more than doubled since the 1970s. “(The) huge numbers of incoming specimens can overwhelm any efforts to identify them by the few people with the necessary skill,” he said.
The team believes the naming problems can be addressed if DNA sequencing and the digitisation of specimens — so that they can be accessed remotely — become mainstays of taxonomic studies.
Meanwhile, a separate Oxford study has found that what were thought to be three separate species of a 170 million year-old Jurassic mammal — considered a forerunner of modern marsupials — were in fact a single species.
Scientists scouring a beach on Scotland’s Isle of Skye found a fossilised lower jaw with 11 teeth of different shapes.
Researchers had found similar teeth decades ago in an Oxford quarry, and concluded they came from three species.
“In effect, we’ve undiscovered two species,” said lead researcher Roger Close. “(It) shows we should be cautious about naming new types of animals on the basis of individual teeth.”
