Linnean shortfall and space-time patterns in species description of New World coralsnakes (Serpentes: Elapidae)

Abstract

The magnitude of life on Earth and human limitations hinder the understanding of even the most basic aspects of biodiversity, such as the identity of species inhabiting the Earth, the so-called Linnean shortfall. Evaluating patterns in species description dates and their relationship with macroecological variables can help guide where taxonomic efforts should be focused. Therefore, we aim to assess the Linnean shortfall in the knowledge of New World coralsnake biodiversity. We modelled species description dates and estimated that approximately one-third of the coralsnake diversity remains unknown. The undescribed species are evolutionarily closely related to the already described species. Moreover, recently described species in the group have more restricted geographic ranges and tend to be small-bodied. The western Amazon and the dry diagonal (i.e. Caatinga, Cerrado, and Chaco) are the areas with the oldest description dates. However, assemblages in these areas have the largest average geographic distances to the type locality of their species, suggesting that little taxonomic effort has been dedicated intrinsically to these regions. We suggest that allocating taxonomic efforts to the dry diagonal and the use of integrative taxonomic techniques for better species delimitation are imperative to fill the Linnean shortfall for the New World coralsnakes.