Abstract
We performed an analysis of the descriptions of new species of Neotropical Siluriformes (catfishes) to estimate the number of new species that remain to be described for a complete knowledge on biodiversity of this order, to verify the effectiveness of taxonomic support, and to identify trends and present relevant information for future policies. We conducted a literature review of species descriptions between January 1990 and August 2014. The following metadata were recorded from each article: year of publication, number of species, journal and impact factor, family(s) of the described species, number of authors, age of the authors and coauthors, country of the first author’s institution and ecoregion of the type-locality. From accumulation of descriptions, we built an estimate model for number of species remaining to be described. We found 595 described species in 402 articles. The data demonstrated that there has been an increased understanding of the diversity of Siluriformes over the last 25 years in the Neotropical region, although 35% of the species still remain to be described. The model estimated that with the current trends and incentives, the biodiversity will be known in almost seven decades. We have reinforced the idea that greater joint efforts should be made by society and the scientific community to obtain this knowledge in a shorter period of time through enhanced programs for promoting science, training and the advancement of professionals before undiscovered species become extinct. The model built in this study can be used for similar estimates of other groups of animals.
Highlights
The discrepancy between the number of species formally described and the number of species that are believed to exist, as well as the lack of knowledge on the actual geographic distribution of species are insufficient, hindering the biodiversity knowledge (see, Linnean [1] and PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0132913 July 13, 2015Insights on Determining Biodiversity (Fundação Araucária http://www.fappr.pr.gov.br/) for providing a grant to WJG
We found 43 journals, 402 articles, 252 authors and 595 species of freshwater Siluriformes from the Neotropical region described between January 1990 and August 2014
Our data show that the knowledge of Siluriformes diversity has increased in the last twenty five years in the Neotropical region, with an average of 24 new species described per year during the study period compared to 6.3 new species described on average in 232 years since 1758, with the publication of Systema Naturae [28], to 1990; there are still 35% of species to be described and insufficient knowledge of their geographical distribution
Summary
The discrepancy between the number of species formally described and the number of species that are believed to exist, as well as the lack of knowledge on the actual geographic distribution of species are insufficient, hindering the biodiversity knowledge S. National Science Foundation in the United States, which is supporting the projects Revisionary Syntheses in Systematics and Planetary Biodiversity Inventory, and the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) in Brazil, which is supporting the Training Taxonomy Program (Protax). National Science Foundation in the United States, which is supporting the projects Revisionary Syntheses in Systematics and Planetary Biodiversity Inventory, and the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) in Brazil, which is supporting the Training Taxonomy Program (Protax) The latter and the Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy in the United States have invested in and trained young taxonomists [8]. We performed an analysis of the new species descriptions of Neotropical Siluriformes both to verify the effectiveness of support for taxonomic research (e.g. project financing, indexing of specialized journals and training of scholars) and to generate a model that estimates the total number of remaining undescribed species. The scope of this work includes identifying current trends and providing relevant information to scientific funding agencies for the development of future policies
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