Taxonomic punchlines: metadata in biology

Biological nomenclature contains metadata that can inform researchers about a taxon’s place in nature and the namer’s place in contemporary science and culture. The socio-scientific content of that metadata, and the story it conveys about the origin of a scientific name, hold value for taxonomy and interest for the public in general. However, such metadata are perishable if not hard-coded into literature. Accordingly, the present paper attempts to document the use and value of socio-scientific metadata through examples of whimsical taxonomic names. In the process, I capture hitherto unpublished views on this topic expressed by George Gaylord Simpson, the twentieth century's most distinguished vertebrate palaeontologist and a co-founder of the modern synthetic theory of evolution, along with personal perspectives of many of the eminent palaeozoologists and biologists of his time. The principal conclusion is that whimsical names will surely increase in their ubiquity in scientific literature, and this commends acknowledgement in the international zoological code to encourage the preservation of their origin stories. Credit: Cartoon from New Scientist, its masked arthropod grumbling about whimsical scientific nomenclature, originally appeared in McClellan (1982). The artist, David Austin (1935-2005), began his cartooning career in the 1970s, later becoming well-known for his political commentary in pocket cartoons featured in British dailies including Today, The Daily Telegraph, and The Guardian, and also Labour Weekly, The Spectator, Field and Mail. (Used with permission of Mr. Austin’s estate, courtesy of Janet Slee, 2018.)