Most species remain unknown to science and might go extinct before we recognize their existence. Although specimens belonging to many of these unknown taxa may already be housed in scientific collections, they can remain ‘shelved’ for years bearing the wrong name or without a formal name. We investigate factors underlying variation in time lag between collection and description dates for 2356 reptile species described worldwide between 1992 and 2017. We modelled the time to description using biological and sociological variables in a time-to-event analysis. Time lag between collection and description varied from zero to 155 years (median = 5). More than one-quarter of species involved specimens ‘shelved’ for 12 years or more. The time lag was shorter when the collector of the holotype – specimen serving as the name-bearer of the species – was an author of the description, while taxonomic revisions uncovered species with longer time lags. Unknown species collected by non-taxonomists and ‘shelved’ in scientific collections remained incorrectly identified for a much longer time. Taxonomic revisions are crucial to reverse this trend and improve benefits of the collecting performed by non-taxonomists. Our findings reveal the kinds of preserved reptile specimens that most likely represent unknown species in scientific collections.

中文翻译：

---

确定促进全球爬行动物物种发现的因素

大多数物种对科学仍然未知，在我们认识到它们的存在之前可能已经灭绝。尽管属于许多这些未知分类单元的标本可能已经被保存在科学馆藏中，但它们可以以错误的名称或没有正式名称的方式“保留”多年。我们调查了1992年至2017年间在全球范围内描述的2356种爬行动物的收集和描述日期之间的时间滞后的潜在因素。我们在事件发生时间分析中使用生物学和社会学变量对描述时间进行了建模。收集和描述之间的时间差从零到155年不等（中位数= 5）。超过四分之一的物种涉及标本“搁置”了12年或更长时间。该描述的作者是全称的收集者（标本是该物种的承载者），时间间隔较短，而分类学修订发现的物种具有较长的时间间隔。由非分类学家收集并在科学收藏中“搁置”的未知物种在更长的时间内仍被错误地识别。分类学修订对于逆转这一趋势并提高非分类学家进行收集的益处至关重要。我们的发现揭示了保存的爬行动物标本的种类，这些标本最有可能代表科学收藏中的未知物种。分类学修订对于逆转这一趋势并提高非分类学家进行收集的益处至关重要。我们的发现揭示了保存的爬行动物标本的种类，这些标本最有可能代表科学收藏中的未知物种。分类学修订对于逆转这一趋势并提高非分类学家进行收集的益处至关重要。我们的发现揭示了保存的爬行动物标本的种类，这些标本最有可能代表科学收藏中的未知物种。