TY - JOUR

T1 - Deceiving insects, deceiving taxonomists?

T2 - Making theoretical sense of taxonomic disagreement in the European orchid genus Ophrys

AU - Cuypers, Vincent

AU - Reydon, Thomas A.C.

AU - Artois, Tom

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank Andreas De Block (KU Leuven), Charles Pence (UCLouvain), Max Bautista Perpinyà (UCLouvain), and in particular Stijn Conix (KU Leuven), for their contribution to the conception and execution of this study, and the editors and independent reviewers for their valuable comments during the editorial process. This work was supported by the Research Foundation - Flanders (Belgium) [grant number 3H200026]. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. No data were generated that must be made available separately.

PY - 2022/9

Y1 - 2022/9

N2 - The orchid genus Ophrys is a textbook example of a taxonomic controversy, with the number of species recognised in different classifications varying from around 10 to over 350, causing confusion among researchers and enthusiasts. Here, we illustrate that there are multiple drivers behind that disagreement, representing debates and discussions of various nature, and then reflect on strategies to mitigate confusion among the users of Ophrys taxonomies, reconciling legitimate taxonomic debates with demands for clarity among the broader biological community. First, we distil six possible factors explaining taxonomic disagreement from general literature on taxonomic difficulties, and assess the importance of each of them for the Ophrys controversy. We then explore two strategies to reduce confusion among the users of the taxonomies in question. On the one hand, we illustrate the possibility of constructing a consensus-based reference taxonomy for external users, despite the ongoing taxonomic disagreement, and on the other hand we explore a ‘pluralist’ alternative, in which different classifications are allowed to coexist, but in an orderly manner. Doing so, we build a case for the Ophrys systematics community to reflect collectively on which strategy to adopt.

AB - The orchid genus Ophrys is a textbook example of a taxonomic controversy, with the number of species recognised in different classifications varying from around 10 to over 350, causing confusion among researchers and enthusiasts. Here, we illustrate that there are multiple drivers behind that disagreement, representing debates and discussions of various nature, and then reflect on strategies to mitigate confusion among the users of Ophrys taxonomies, reconciling legitimate taxonomic debates with demands for clarity among the broader biological community. First, we distil six possible factors explaining taxonomic disagreement from general literature on taxonomic difficulties, and assess the importance of each of them for the Ophrys controversy. We then explore two strategies to reduce confusion among the users of the taxonomies in question. On the one hand, we illustrate the possibility of constructing a consensus-based reference taxonomy for external users, despite the ongoing taxonomic disagreement, and on the other hand we explore a ‘pluralist’ alternative, in which different classifications are allowed to coexist, but in an orderly manner. Doing so, we build a case for the Ophrys systematics community to reflect collectively on which strategy to adopt.

KW - Conservation

KW - Ophrys

KW - Species concepts

KW - Taxonomy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131954921&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ppees.2022.125686

DO - 10.1016/j.ppees.2022.125686

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85131954921

VL - 56

JO - Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics

JF - Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics

SN - 1433-8319

M1 - 125686

ER -