Coral taxonomy has entered a historical phase where nomenclatorial uncertainty is rapidly increasing. The fundamental cause is mandatory adherence to historical monographs that lack essential information of all sorts, and also to type specimens, if they exist at all, that are commonly unrecognizable fragments or are uncharacteristic of the species they are believed to represent. Historical problems, including incorrect subsequent type species designations, also create uncertainty for many well-established genera. The advent of in situ studies in the 1970s revealed these issues; now molecular technology is again changing the taxonomic landscape. The competing methodologies involved must be seen in context if they are to avoid becoming an additional basis for continuing nomenclatorial instability. To prevent this happening, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) will need to focus on rules that consolidate well-established nomenclature and allow for the designation of new type specimens that are unambiguous, and which include both skeletal material and soft tissue for molecular study. Taxonomic and biogeographic findings have now become linked, with molecular methodologies providing the capacity to re-visit past taxonomic decisions, and to extend both taxonomy and biogeography into the realm of evolutionary theory. It is proposed that most species will ultimately be seen as operational taxonomic units that are human rather than natural constructs, which in consequence will always have fuzzy morphological, genetic, and distribution boundaries. The pathway ahead calls for the integration of morphological and molecular taxonomies, and for website delivery of information that crosses current discipline boundaries.

中文翻译：

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虫黄藻菌石纲分类学概述

珊瑚分类学进入了一个历史阶段，命名的不确定性正在迅速增加。根本原因是强制遵守缺乏各种基本信息的历史专着，以及模式标本，如果它们存在的话，通常是无法识别的碎片或不符合它们被认为代表的物种的特征。历史问题，包括不正确的后续类型物种名称，也为许多成熟的属带来了不确定性。1970 年代原位研究的出现揭示了这些问题；现在分子技术再次改变分类学格局。如果要避免成为持续命名不稳定的额外基础，则必须结合上下文来看待所涉及的竞争方法。为了防止这种情况发生，国际动物命名委员会 (ICZN) 将需要专注于整合完善命名的规则，并允许指定明确的新型标本，其中包括用于分子研究的骨骼材料和软组织。分类学和生物地理学的发现现在已经联系在一起，分子方法学提供了重新审视过去分类学决定的能力，并将分类学和生物地理学扩展到进化理论领域。建议大多数物种最终将被视为人类而非自然构造的可操作分类单元，因此将始终具有模糊的形态、遗传和分布边界。未来的道路需要整合形态学和分子分类学，