EDIT

public class TaxonDescription

            extends DescriptionBase<IIdentifiableEntityCacheStrategy<TaxonDescription>>

            implements Cloneable{

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 8065879180505546803L;

    @SuppressWarnings("unused")

    private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(TaxonDescription.class);

        result = (TaxonDescription)super.clone();

        //scopes

        for (DefinedTerm scope : getScopes()){

            result.scopes.add(scope);

        }

        //geo-scopes

        for (NamedArea namedArea : getGeoScopes()){

            result.geoScopes.add(namedArea);

        }

        //no changes to: taxon

        return result;

    }

}