Nomenclature: how do we designate NPP taxa?

Abstract

Identification and naming of fossil and subfossil organisms are not easy tasks. We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in how NPP taxa are named, driven in large part by (1) molecular clock taxonomic efforts in the past 25 years and (2) greater connectivity among scientific communities. Concurrent with this is the understanding that sometimes a name is not necessary, and identifying acronyms, pending further taxonomic work, or where fragmentary or synapomorphic remains cannot be assigned to their original taxon, are sufficient. The overarching goal of the paradigm shift is to maintain stability of the code and avoid increasing the number of names that refer to single taxa. The history and current state of nomenclature for non-pollen palynomorphs groups, highlighting recent developments with dinoflagellates and fungi, is given, and recommendations for a unified approach to NPP nomenclature through geological time are made.