Taxonomic VandalismGrant Webster and Ian Bool
Taxonomic VandalismTwo amateur zoologists, masquerading as scientists have just bootlegged the work of Hoser (2020) to attempt to illegally rename the frog genus Wellingtondella Hoser, 2020, as Anstisia Webster and Bool, 2022.
The two thieves even stooped so low as to cite the Wuster et al. (2012) rant, better known as Kaiser et al. (2013) as their justification.
Recall the ICZN squashed that plan in 2021 by voting against Kaiser et al. and Rhodin et al. (2015).
It goes without saying that the fake science was published in the notorious online PRINO (Peer reviewed in name only) "journal" Zootaxa!
The lying thieves even went so far as stealing the work of Hoser (2020), relying on the same diagnostic characters as Hoser, but being so low as to not even cite the work from where they stole their alleged new discovery!
If this is not the lowest form of fake science possible, then who knows what is?
By way of example of the plagiarisation Hoser (2020) wrote:
"Geocrinia (both subgenera) are separated from Wellingtondella gen. nov. by having diphasic calls"
Webster and Bool (2022) in effectively lifting their material directly from the Hoser work wrote:
"Geocrinia species can be identified by a call consisting of two distinct note types (biphasic)
Webster justified his numerous breaches of the Australian Copyright Act (1968), including Sections 36, 115, 189, 190, 193, 194, 195 and numerous sections of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature including the most important mandatory rule being
"Article 23. Principle of Priority" (all sections),
by making the following idiot statement:
"In line with Kaiser et al. (2013), and to preserve nomenclatural stability (Wüster et al. 2021), any recently proposed taxonomy regarding the four Anstisia and three Geocrinia species without peer review sits outside of the generally accepted practice for publishing scientific investigations and should be accordingly disregarded."
What Webster chose to ignore, was the fact that the ICZN ruled against the Wolfgang Wuster gang of thieves and specifically the same document he cited (Kaiser et al. 2013) in a scathing judgment on 30 April 2021, as well as the fact that his own actions were both dishonest and highly illegal.
Were the notorious criminals Wolfgang Wuster or Hinrich Kaiser actually in Australia, they'd have been locked up long ago for inciting others to commit serious criminal offences!
Just to correct another couple of dishonest statements of Webster and Bool, copied from his partners in crime Wolfgang Wuster and Hinrich Kaiser, I should let you all know the following, just in case you do not.
Fact is, the Australasian Journal of Herpetology is peer reviewed in the true sense of the term, but it is furthermore also peer reviewed to a standard unmatched in scientific publications.
Of course Wuster would say that as the peer review did not include him, none of it counts.
In any event, no argument is required as the ICZN and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature make it clear that peer review is not required in terms of scientific publications and/or the availability of scientific names for taxa.
The lying thief, Grant Webster is fully aware of these facts and it is for this reason he cited the non-ICZN, non peer reviewed publications of his partners in crime, Wolfgang Wuster and Hinrich Kaiser, instead of the proper document, being the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature or the ICZN ruling of 2021, which confirmed the formal availability of the scientific publications of Snakeman Raymond Hoser, including that which discovered and named the frog genus Wellingtondella Hoser, 2020.
This most recent act of anti-science Taxonomic Vandalism by Webster and Bool at the behest of the Wuster gang of thieves is disturbing in the extreme. This gang continue to attack the ICZN and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and remain the biggest threat to the Code in over 200 years.
The original Hoser (2020) paper can be downloaded as pdf and is:
Hoser, R. T. 2020. 3 new tribes, 3 new subtribes, 5 new genera, 3 new subgenera, 39 new species and 11 new subspecies of mainly small ground-dwelling frogs
from Australia. Australasian Journal of Herpetology 50-51:1-128.
available as pdf at:
http://www.smuggled.com/AJH-I50-Split.htm
The Webster Bool shit piece in Zootaxa, published online on 14 June 2022 is cited as follows:
Webster, G. N. and Bool, I. 2022. A new genus for four myobatrachid frogs from the South Western Australian Ecoregion. Zootaxa (PRINO) (Online) 5154(2):127-151.
PS It is only published online and stashed behind a paywall in breach of sections of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (recommendations) and as it has NOT been fully registered with Zoobank, the ICZN Name repository (as of a day after publication online) (edit ... fixed up in response to this page being posted), it is not validly published according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (THE RULES for publishing online nomenclatural acts) and so besides being an invalidly coined junior synonym Anstisia is (was on the latter basis) an unavailable name and should (still) not be used! (second edit, the paper has now been made "open access", so can be downloaded, again this happening in apparent response to the publication of this page, but this does not change the fact the name is a junior synonym and therefore is an invalid name and should not be used).
PS Webster and Bool are effectively unknown in herpetology and have now merely identified themselves first and foremost as plagiarists and thieves.
PPS On his Facebook page, Webster has claimed his above referred to paper is the result of years of hard labour and work.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
It is merely a theft of the work of Snakeman Raymond Hoser, published 2 years prior.
He did not tell any of his Facebook followers this critically important fact.
The Hoser paper, being a two volume book monograph on the relevant group of frogs, was in fact the result of more than 50 years of intensive field and lab research on Australian frogs!
On his Facebook page, Webster also lied in claiming he was the first person to name a frog in honour of well-known frog catcher, Marion Anstis.
The species Mahonabatrachus marionanstisae Hoser, 2020 is a species of tree frog from Western Australia.
The snake Walmsleyus anstisae Hoser, 2014 also formally named by Hoser in honour of Marion Anstis was named 8 years prior to Webster's unscientific incursion into herpetological taxonomy and nomenclature.
Webster was well aware of both but lied to his friends and followers in pretending that they did not exist.
PPPS Within seconds of posting a correcting link to this webpage on his Facebook page, Grant Webster deleted the post and blocked reposting. He clearly does not want people he knows to know that he is a liar, a scammer, a faker and a fraud.
So that Grant Webster's dishonesty, fake science and fraud remains as part of the public record and as a warning to other like-minded individuals who may consider the idea of stealing the work of others and claiming credit for it, his Facebook post and thread is copied at the link below, so that others can see the lies and false claims of Grant Webster.
Grant Webster fake science and false claims on Facebook on 14 June 2022.
PPPPS Grant Webster's Facebook lies commenced on the opening of his first post, where he wrote:
"Today Australia had its first new genus of frogs formally identified in 25 years!"
Not so! Dozens of new genera were formally named in 2020, including of course Wellingtondella Hoser, 2020 which is the correct name for the genus Grant Webster illegally coined a second name for.
Grant Webster lied again when he said, "The genus has been named after Dr Marion Anstis, who has contributed decades of research to the reproductive biology and tadpole development of Australia's frogs. Despite her contributions, including discovering and describing many new frog species, she has never been, until now, honoured in the scientific name of a frog"
He lied again here by pretending that the species Mahonabatrachus marionanstisae Hoser, 2020 did not exist.
Wolfgang Wuster, taxonomic vandalism, scientifuc fraud, criminal history.
Other alleged scientists and their taxonomic vandalism (acts of faking discoveries).
Raymond Hoser is the Snakeman. Details of his work here.
28 April 2018 - Spectacular new species of large spiky lizard discovered in the Mount Isa area. ...
Non-urgent email inquiries via:
The Snakebusters bookings page.
Urgent inquiries phone:
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia:
(03) 9812 3322 or 0412 777 211
Taxonomic vandalism Anstisia is a junior synonym of Wellingtondella
Anstisia rosea = Wellingtondella rosea
Anstisia alba = Wellingtondella alba
Anstisia lutea = Wellingtondella lutea
Anstisia vitellina = Wellingtondella vitellina