DNA barcoding and taxonomy: dark taxa and dark texts.

Area of Science:

• Biodiversity informatics
• Taxonomy
• Genomic sciences

Background:

• The digitization of the living world involves both classical taxonomy and DNA barcoding.
• Significant portions of taxonomic literature remain undigitized ('dark texts'), particularly from the mid- to late-twentieth century.
• DNA barcoding generates computable data, but many sequences lack species-level identification ('dark taxa').

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the challenges in integrating biodiversity data due to undigitized literature and unidentified sequences.
• To explore the potential of voucher specimens as a common currency for linking taxonomic literature and sequence databases.
• To advocate for a global 'digital dashboard' for assessing online biodiversity data availability.

Main Methods:

• Review of current practices in taxonomic literature digitization and DNA barcoding.
• Analysis of the role of voucher specimens in bridging taxonomic and genomic data.
• Discussion of the need for stable, resolvable specimen identifiers.

Main Results:

• Undigitized taxonomic literature and 'dark taxa' (unidentified sequences) hinder biodiversity data integration.
• Voucher specimens offer a potential solution for linking names, literature, and sequences.
• A lack of stable specimen identifiers is a key obstacle to this integration.

Conclusions:

• Voucher specimens are crucial for connecting classical taxonomy and DNA barcoding data.
• Development of stable specimen identifiers is essential for effective data integration.
• A global 'digital dashboard' is proposed to monitor and improve online biodiversity data accessibility.