Editing Barnacle (section)

== History of taxonomy ==

[[File:Balanus improvisus on Mya arenaria shell.jpg|thumb|''[[Balanus improvisus]]'', one of the many barnacle taxa described by [[Charles Darwin]], on a bivalve shell ]]

Barnacles were classified by [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] and [[Georges Cuvier|Cuvier]] as [[Mollusca]], but in 1830 [[John Vaughan Thompson]] published observations showing the metamorphosis of the nauplius and cypris larvae into adult barnacles, and noted that these larvae were similar to those of crustaceans. In 1834, [[Hermann Burmeister]] reinterpreted these findings, moving barnacles from the [[Mollusca]] to [[Articulata Hypothesis|Articulata]] (in modern terms, annelids + arthropods), showing naturalists that detailed study was needed to reevaluate their taxonomy.<ref name="Richmond 2007">{{Cite web |last=Richmond |first=Marsha |title=Darwin's Study of the Cirripedia |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/Richmond_cirripedia.html |publisher=Darwin Online |date=January 2007 |access-date=16 June 2012 }}</ref>

[[Charles Darwin]] took up this challenge in 1846, and developed his initial interest into a major study published as a series of [[monographs]] in 1851 and 1854.<ref name="Richmond 2007"/> He undertook this study at the suggestion of his friend the botanist [[Joseph Dalton Hooker]], namely to thoroughly understand at least one species before making the generalisations needed for his theory of [[evolution]] by [[natural selection]].<ref name="Wyhe 2007">{{Cite journal |last=van Wyhe |first=John |date=2007-05-22 |title=Mind the gap: did Darwin avoid publishing his theory for many years? |url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsnr.2006.0171 |journal=[[Notes and Records of the Royal Society]] |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=177–205 |doi=10.1098/rsnr.2006.0171 |s2cid=202574857|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 
The [[Royal Society]] notes that barnacles occupied Darwin, who worked from home, so intensely "that his son assumed all fathers behaved the same way: when visiting a friend he asked, 'Where does your father do his barnacles?'"<ref>{{cite web |title=Domestic Science: Victorian Naturalists at Home |url=https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2009/summer-science/victorian-naturalists/ |publisher=[[Royal Society]] |access-date=19 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240219104556/https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2009/summer-science/victorian-naturalists/ |archive-date=19 February 2024 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Upon the conclusion of his research, Darwin declared "I hate a barnacle as no man ever did before."<ref name="Wyhe 2007"/><ref name="Bromham 2020">{{Cite journal |last=Bromham |first=Lindell |date=2020-10-01 |title=Comparability in evolutionary biology: The case of Darwin's barnacles |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/lingty-2020-2056/html?lang=en |journal=[[Linguistic Typology]] |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=427–463 |doi=10.1515/lingty-2020-2056 |s2cid=222319487 |hdl=1885/274303 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>