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A Concoction Pipeline for Generating Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) Among Riparian and Aquatic Beetles

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Establishing a Framework for a Natural Area Taxonomy.

Malte C Ebach¹, Bernard Michaux²

¹Palaeontology, Geobiology and Earth Archives Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. mcebach@unsw.edu.au.

Acta Biotheoretica

|May 12, 2017

Summary

Area Taxonomy, a new sub-discipline of historical biogeography, is proposed for discovering natural areas. It uses area monophyly, derived from cladistics, to establish area classifications and nomenclature.

Keywords:

Area homology Area monophyly Area taxonomy Areagrams General areagrams Jamaica Monophyly

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Area of Science:

Historical biogeography
Systematics
Biogeographical classification

Background:

Identifying areas of endemism is crucial for area classification but not for discovering natural areas.
Area monophyly, originating from cladistics, is key to discovering natural area classifications and establishing area taxonomy.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose Area Taxonomy as a novel sub-discipline within historical biogeography.
To introduce a framework for discovering natural areas using principles from biological systematics.

Main Methods:

Transcribing concepts of homology and monophyly from biological systematics to historical biogeography.
Developing the concept of area monophyly for biogeographical analysis.
Establishing principles for area nomenclature within the proposed Area Taxonomy.

Main Results:

Area Taxonomy offers a systematic approach to classifying and discovering natural areas.
The study introduces concepts of area homologues, area homologies, and area monophyly.
Area monophyly is identified as essential for discovering natural area classifications.

Conclusions:

Area Taxonomy provides a robust, debatable framework for historical biogeography.
The proposed methods facilitate the discovery and classification of natural areas.
This work establishes a new sub-discipline with its own nomenclature and revisionary potential.