Spreadsheets to expedite taxonomic publications by automatic generationof morphological descriptions and specimen lists.

Abstract

It is now generally accepted that we are going through a major mass extinction event that is causing biodiversity loss at alarming rates (Barnosky et al. 2011). We also know that many species remain to be formally described (e.g. Huber 2014), and concerns have been raised as to whether we will be able to document these before they go extinct (Costello et al. 2013). On one hand, the number of recognized species increases exponentially (e.g. Agnarsson et al. 2013; Sangster Luksenburg 2015). On the other, taxonomic descriptions are becoming more complete and detailed, which is necessarily more time-consuming, leading to an overall decline in the number of species described per taxonomist (Sangster Luksenburg 2015). In this scenario, any method or protocol that increases efficiency in taxonomic descriptions is welcome.