Impediments to taxonomy and users of taxonomy: accessibility and impact evaluation

There has been much discussion of the "taxonomic impediment". This phrase confuses two kinds of impediment: an impediment to end users imposed by lack of reliable information; and impediments to taxonomy itself, which vary from insufficient funding to low citation rates of taxonomic monographs. In order to resolve both these types of impediment, taxonomy needs to be revitalized through funding and training taxonomists, as well as investing in taxonomic revisions and monographs rather than technological surrogates such as DNA barcoding. (C) The Willi Hennig Society 2011.