Hi Peter
You are too kind, but many thanks anyway.
I'd like to explain the significance of this paper. Harry Parnaby has taken
a species which has traditionally been regarded as widespread in Australia
(and outside Australia) and shown that within Australia it is really a
complex of at least 3 species. This is sort of analagous to the splitting of
the Ground Parrot - you can see the conservation implications!
People on Birding-Aus might get irritated, or hopefully fascinated, by the
taxonomic changes which occur in birds. There is only one bat species for
every 8 or 9 bird species in Australia, yet a significant proportion of bat
species are still not even named. In Brisbane, two of the commonest species
have never been named! These are mammals, remember! In Brisbane!
I'd like to present another quote from Harry's paper.
"Despite the implications of unrecognised species for effective conservation
management, and consequently the obvious relevance of taxonomic studies,
species taxonomy still appears to be perceived as either an irrelevancy, a
low priority by managers and funding bodies alike, or as the domain of
academic research rather than management, i.e. someone else's problem."
People in general have an over-optimistic view of how well our wildlife
resources are cared for. In his paper, Harry gives his address as "Hon.
Research Associate" at the Australian Museum. Note the "Hon" bit! He isn't
paid to produce a 43 page scientific paper revising the taxonomy of these
bats, despite the obvious importance of such work to a basic inventory of
Australian wildlife. Yes, well done Harry, and let's hope we live to see
better funding for research which is fundamental to our knowledge of
wildlife and how to look after it.
Cheers,
Chris Corben.
(named after a bat, I'm told!)
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