02696naa a2200145 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000190006024500690007926000090014852020410015770000150219870000160221377303210222913149262008-09-25       2008    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d1 aSCHMELZ, R. M.  aGood Taxonomic Practice in ecological studies with enchytraeids.  c2008  aMany ecological studies produce species lists. In enchytraeids, these records are often the primary source of information for the distribution of species, and for their ecological behaviour as well. However, only very rarely are these records documented by voucher specimens. This negligence may be explained by the fact that enchytraeids are usually determined in vivo, but it leads to the situation that an independant control of the results is not possible. Moreover, taxonomic revisions can change the meaning of names, for example when a given species turns out to exist of more than one species. A comprehensive taxonomic revision of one enchytraeid genus (Fridericia) (Schmelz 2003, Abh. Naturwiss. Ver. Hamburg NF 38) detected a high percentage of misidentifications in the few available reference collections and unmasked up to six different and morphologically distinguishable species under the same species name used by different authors. Besides, several of the most-cited nominal species had to be redefined. As a consequence, species records without available voucher material had to be considered as unreliable and could not be used as source of information. In this paper we give an account of the loss of information caused by the lack of reference material, which amounts to over 80% of the records in some species. On the other hand, in the same revision the accuracy of an identification could be verified or rejected whenever preserved specimens were available. Most of them had been fixed simply with ethanol or formol. This leads to a list of requirements for ?Good Taxonomic Practice? in studies with enchytraeids, with two basic principles: (1) Any published record of enchytraeid species should be documented with voucher specimens. (2) They should be deposited in Natural History Collections with curatorial service. GTP should be standard even when supposedly unproblematic or trivial species are recorded. Although we only deal with enchytraeids here, GTP may also apply to other taxa of the soil mesofauna.1 aROMBKE, J.1 aCOLLADO, R.  tIn: INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM ON SOIL ZOOLOGY, 15; INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM ON APTERYGOTA, 12., 2008, Curitiba. Biodiversity, conservation and sustainabele management of soil animal: abstracts. Colombo: Embrapa Florestas. Editors: George Gardner Brown; Klaus Dieter Sautter; Renato Marques; Amarildo Pasini. 1 CD-ROM.