Talk:George Albert Boulenger

Latest comment: 10 years ago by Papblak in topic Species list

Species list edit

I have removed the list of species described by Boulenger. It was far too long for this article and provided no information about the subject. Instead we should highlight those species that are particularly notable (or that he's particularly notable for), as we already do with the African cave barb. Huon (talk) 18:49, 24 November 2013 (UTC)Reply


You mention the African cave barb but being an herpetologist I have not come across that fish, I do however repeatedly come across important reptiles described by Boulenger, he was the main describer of specimens returning to Britain from expeditions during the golden age of exploration. Many Boulenger specimens are unique, some known only from their types and surely as important as the African cave barb but sifting through his species and selecting only a few for recognition would be a tough task.

Would it be feasible to create a separate page to list Boulenger's incredible contribution to herpetology and place the list there as it would be of interest to many given his global reach in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I seem to recall some history pages and art pages have links to lists and subpages when they become too full of information. In not listing his species because he was too prolific he is not being as well represented as other authors with far fewer species described, whose lists do not get flagged up with alarm bells.

Incidentally when you mentioned the great amount of work involved, I assume you meant by Boulenger, but locating all the species, correcting them and formatting them for Wiki also took me a good few hours so I was disappointed to discover it was all for nought. Papblak (talk) 19:41, 24 November 2013 (UTC)Reply