''Mihi itch'' or Mihisucht is the ambition to describe new

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

(or other

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

, hybrids,

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

, etc.) as a means to immortalize one's name. ''

Mihi A Mihi is a traditional form of greeting among the Māori people of New Zealand. The word may refer to several other things and people: Places * Mihi, Nepal, a village in northwest Nepal * Mihi, New Zealand, a village in the Waikato Region * Mihi ...

'' is the dative form of the Latin word ''ego'', thus "mihi itch" means to satisfy one's

egotistical Egotism is defined as the drive to maintain and enhance favorable views of oneself and generally features an inflated opinion of one's personal features and importance distinguished by a person's amplified vision of one's self and self-importanc ...

impulses. The expression appeared in print as early as 1884. A consequence of the Mihi itch may be the unwarranted description of new taxa, differing only slightly from already established taxa, leading to

taxonomic inflation Taxonomic inflation is a pejorative term for what is perceived to be an excessive increase in the number of recognised taxa in a given context, due not to the discovery of new taxa but rather to putatively arbitrary changes to how taxa are delineat ...

. A more extreme case may be termed

taxonomic vandalism Taxonomic vandalism is a term used in biology to describe the practice of publishing numerous scientifically unfounded or poorly-justified taxonomic names, often without adequate research or peer review. This phenomenon has been observed across va ...

when a large number of species are described with limited scientific evidence.

Examples

* La "nouvelle école" in

malacology Malacology, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...

, led by

Jules René Bourguignat Jules René Bourguignat (19 August 1829, Brienne-le-Château, Brienne-Napoléon, Aube – 7 April 1892) was a French malacologist, a scientist who studied mollusks. He served as secretary-general of the ''Société malacologique de France''. He tr ...

, was responsible for the description of hundreds of new species of

molluscs Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

in Europe at the end of the nineteen century. * Harold St. John published 440 names in the genus ''

Pandanus ''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with about 578 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. The genus is classified ...

'', which encompasses c. 600 accepted species, and 283 names in the genus '' Cyrtandra'', which encompasses c. 700 accepted species. * Between 2000 and 2011,

Raymond Hoser Raymond Terrence Hoser (born 1962) is an Australian snake-catcher and author. Hoser's work on herpetology is controversial, including his advocacy of the surgical alteration of captive snakes to remove their venom glands and his self-published ...

published 582 species names, and 340 generic names of animals (mostly

reptiles Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

References

itch An itch (also known as pruritus) is a sensation that causes a strong desire or reflex to scratch. Itches have resisted many attempts to be classified as any one type of sensory experience. Itches have many similarities to pain, and while both ...

History of science Sociology of science Epistemology {{Biology-stub

Examples

See also

References