How long does it take to discover a species?

The description of a new species is a key step in cataloguing the World’s flora. However, this is only a preliminary stage in a long process of understanding what that species represents. We investigated how long the species discovery process takes by focusing on three key stages: 1, the collection of the first specimen; 2, the publication of the species name; and 3, the date when a minimum number of 15 accurately named specimens are available. We quantified the time lags associated with these stages for several groups of plants with different numbers of species and from different regions, including the 20 most species-rich Angiosperm families. Our analyses reveal that it takes decades to accumulate a minimum number of specimens to allow subsequent studies of any kind. The time lag between stages 1 and 3 is consistently over 70 years with groups such as the tropical genus Aframomum reflecting an average time lag of over 100 years. In light of our results, we suggest that species discovery is most accurately characterized as a lengthy process of knowledge accumulation, often spanning decades, rather than a one-off event.

新物种描述是全球植物区系编目工作的关键环节。然而，这仅是解析该物种本质的漫长研究进程中的初步阶段。本研究聚焦三大关键阶段，探究物种发现进程所需时长：其一为首份标本的采集；其二为物种学名的正式发表；其三为至少15份定名准确的标本可供使用的时间节点。我们针对不同物种数量、来自不同区域的多类植物类群（涵盖物种丰富度排名前20的被子植物（Angiosperm）科），量化了各阶段对应的时间滞后量。分析结果显示，积累足够开展后续各类研究的标本量至少需要数十年时间。阶段1至阶段3的时间滞后量普遍超过70年，以热带类群非洲豆蔻属（Aframomum）为例，其平均时间滞后量更是超过百年。基于本研究结果，我们认为物种发现更准确的本质是一场跨度往往达数十年的知识积累漫长进程，而非一蹴而就的单一事件。