What's a paratype?

kwalker · Post by **kwalker** » 23 Aug 2003, 05:01

silurus

these pics are truely great. being newer to this forum i do have a question. what do you mean by the term "paratypes"?

ken walker

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 23 Aug 2003, 06:28

I believe paratype means one of the original specimens caught and preserved for future scientific reference, so they can go in and say, "No, Reginald, see, this has more lateral scutes than you were thinking, nowhere near the species you mentioned, you fool." or some such thing.

If you want more info, this is the best set of descriptions I could find, and my mind's not up to that challenge this evening(if ever). I got about a paragraph in and wanted to shoot myself, even though I'm sure it's oversimplified anyway. Heok can set right any inaccuracies I'm sure. http://biodiversity.bio.uno.edu/~gophta ... /0020.html

Post by **Silurus** » 23 Aug 2003, 11:33

To put it very simply, a paratype is one of the specimens used in the original description of the species.

kwalker · Post by **kwalker** » 23 Aug 2003, 14:40

thanks for the response. now this poses another question. where would all these paratypes be stored and who keeps track of all of them?

ken walker

Post by **Silurus** » 23 Aug 2003, 14:59

As with other specimens for scientific study, they are deposited in museums, cared for by curators, and are not made available to the general public (although scientists can examine them for scientific study).

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 23 Aug 2003, 16:08

;) K, ever see a discovery channel show with rows and rows of animals in jars of preservative in a museum? that'd be where they are.