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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richard Klim" data-source="post: 1675155" data-attributes="member: 773">Also from TS's recent piece in ABA's Winging It:"Whenever possible, the Clements Checklist follows, rather than leads, when it comes to adopting changes in taxonomy or in nomenclature. A key question, of course, is: who do we follow?"Jim Clements worked hard to keep up with worldwide taxonomic developments, making considered (and widely respected) judgements on the changes to species-level taxonomy that should be implemented within his checklist. Cornell obviously has cold feet about taking on this role, and has now admitted that, with few exceptions, it's not prepared to consider or accept the conclusions of (even peer-reviewed) scientific literature unless already adopted by AOU, BOU or OSNZ. Unlike Jim Clements, I guess an organisation like Cornell is just not happy to risk its professional reputation by sticking its neck out and being the first to endorse any taxonomic proposals. Unfortunately for its curiously loyal following, that means that large parts of the world (Africa, and most of Eurasia and Australasia) are now a virtual blind spot for the Clements Checklist.Richard</blockquote>