Mihi itch or Mihisucht is the ambition is to describe new species (or other taxa: subspecies, hybrids, genera, etc.) as a means to immortalize their names. Mihi is the dative form of the Latin word ego, thus "mihi itch" means to satisfy one's egotistical impulses.[1] The expression appeared in print as early as 1884.[2]
A consequence of the Mihi itch may be the unwarranted description of new taxa, differing only slightly from already established taxa, leading to taxonomic inflation. A more extreme case may be termed taxonomic vandalism when a large number of species are described with limited scientific evidence.
Examples
edit- La "nouvelle école" in malacology, led by Jules René Bourguignat, was responsible for the description of hundreds of new species of molluscs in Europe at the end of the nineteen century.
- Harold St. John published 440 names in the genus Pandanus, which encompasses c. 600 accepted species, and 283 names in the genus Cyrtandra, which encompasses c. 700 accepted species.
- Between 2000 and 2011, Raymond Hoser published 582 species names, and 340 generic names of animals (mostly reptiles).[3]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Evenhuis, N. L. (2008). "The 'Mihi itch' — A brief history". Zootaxa. 1890 (1): 59–68. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1890.1.3.
- ^ "Meeting of the Entomological Club of the American Association for the Advancement of Science". The Canadian Entomologist. 16 (9): 169–179. 1884. doi:10.4039/Ent16169-9.
- ^ Wüster, W.; Thomson, S. A.; O’shea, M.; Kaiser, H. (2021). "Confronting taxonomic vandalism in biology: conscientious community self-organization can preserve nomenclatural stability". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 133 (3): 645–670. doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blab009. hdl:2436/624028.
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