Taxonomic quality of species descriptions varies over time and with the number of authors, but unevenly among parasitic taxa

Although concerns are being raised about a potential shortage of taxonomists and systematists, recent analyses suggest instead that the number of researchers involved in taxonomic descriptions is higher than ever and that the average number of new species described annually per taxonomist has declined in recent decades. Here, using nine metrics of taxonomic quality, such as the number of morphological traits measured, the number of separate line drawings included, and whether or not gene sequences are provided, we explore variation in taxonomic quality as a function of the number of authors and other potential determinants across 2366 descriptions of parasitic helminths published in 1337 articles between 1980 and 2014. Taxonomic quality has generally increased over time, but unequally among different groups of helminths. For example, the number of scanning electron micrographs per description has risen significantly over time in cestodes and nematodes, but decreased for digeneans. For m...