1 Reply by Bob Merritt

  • Bob Merritt
  • Veteran
  • Offline
  • From: Dumfries
  • Registered: 11-12-2006
  • Posts: 94

Re: List of additional names

This post is for the benefit of anyone who, like me, has been unable to locate the list of additional names in the taxon dictionary referred to by Sally Rankin in a recent post.

Sally has kindly replied to the question which I sent to her directly and I have copied her reply
below:

"If you open the taxon dictionary in Recorder 6, click on the drop-down arrow beside the List box and type ‘L’ it will take you to the first of the lists with names starting with ‘L’. The List of additional names should be the first one listed. Be warned it takes a few minutes to open because it has no hierarchy but I am hoping the Natural History Museum will address that before too long. Note that the preferred lists are forced to the top of the list by preceding their names with a space."

2 Reply by ChrisR

  • ChrisR
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 27-08-2011
  • Posts: 1,131

Re: List of additional names

The List of Additional names is certainly an issue that is high on my list to address because it seems to have grown like topsy since it was created as a concept about 4-5 years ago. For those that don't know, this list is where all ad-hoc names are added - names that do not form part of a proper, public checklist but have been requested by someone.

As Sally has said, imposing some kind of hierarchy on the list might be a good solution to the problem but I will be meeting with the other stakeholder teams over the coming weeks and we will no doubt discuss it at length to thrash out the solution that is best for everyone :)

Chris Raper, Manager of the UK Species Inventory, Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity,
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD.  (tel: 020 7942 5894)
also Tachinid Recording Scheme (http://tachinidae.org.uk/)

3 Reply by nmrs

  • nmrs
  • Veteran
  • Offline
  • From: London
  • Registered: 22-11-2006
  • Posts: 387

Re: List of additional names

Hi Chris,

I've had quite a few moth species added to "List of additional names" because I was informed the preferred dictionary (Bradley, 2000) was 'static' and shouldn't be updated. I presume this was correct?

Les Evans-Hill
Senior Data Officer
Butterfly Conservation, Butterflies for the New Millennium and National Moth Recording Scheme

nmrs's Website

4 Reply by ChrisR

  • ChrisR
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 27-08-2011
  • Posts: 1,131

Re: List of additional names

Hi Les

Yes, that would be the rule. A checklist that has been published in a hard-copy, like B&F, is treated as a static list - people might be recording against that list and we can't guarantee that everyone could update their copies simultaneously to reflect all the different additions and changes. Some lists are more dynamic, where the provider constantly maintains it (like the tachinid recording schem list) and there is no printed document or recording card.

It's all about trying to capture the context behind an identification ... if the recorder chooses a name from a printed checklist that might change meaning later, after taxonomic revisions, but if we know the intent of the recorder then we can reinterpret the meaning of the record later, using translation tables. You might hear us talking about the "NameServer" - this is just such a translation table that provides a map from all known names to their current recommended/accepted name.

:)

Chris R.

Chris Raper, Manager of the UK Species Inventory, Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity,
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD.  (tel: 020 7942 5894)
also Tachinid Recording Scheme (http://tachinidae.org.uk/)