Resumo

ARBELAEZ CORTES¹, ENRIQUE. Describing Species: A Standpoint of Colombian Biodiversity in the Global Setting. Acta biol.Colomb. [online]. 2013, vol.18, n.1, pp.165-178. ISSN 0120-548X.

The formal description of new species has been the basic method, during 250 years, of documenting the Planet's biodiversity. Analysis of species description patterns identifies trends and gaps in taxonomic knowledge. Here, I present an analysis of Colombian new species described during 20002009. I constructed a dataset by bibliographic database searching with specific key words, and then classified each record where a new species was described for Colombia. I compared my results against information for the entire Planet. During the years 2000-2009, 1272 new species where described for Colombia, which represents 0.72 % of the new species for the Planet. Some taxa as Ascomycota and Proteobacteria where poorly represented for Colombia representing less than 0.14 % of the new species for those taxa in the planet; while new plant and vertebrate species described for the country comprised between 1.2 and 10 % of the new species in these groups. Because Colombia is a megadiverse country, the discovery and description of its unknown species would have a great effect at the global biodiversity knowledge. However, it is necessary more support for taxonomic research and strengthening the taxonomic work in some groups (e.g., Insecta).

Palavras-chave : Colombia; bibliometrics; new species; taxonomy.

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