1 Topic by David Hepper

  • David Hepper
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  • From: Farnham, Surrey
  • Registered: 27-11-2015
  • Posts: 51

Topic: Data fault report: Phylum Arthropoda contains unwanted Class entries

The 'phylum' Arthropoda lists 'subphylum' ranks including Hexapoda but also some incorrect 'class' entries. For example, I don't think Diptera or Odonata have ever had a taxon rank of 'class'.
See > https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NH … sification
Clicking on these duff class entries causes pop-up errors.

Odonata is also correctly listed below 'order' Insecta that is itself below 'subphylum' Hexapoda.

This ambiguity is causing trouble for the maps. If taxon Odonata is searched, the duff class is picked instead of the order of the same name. 75 records incorrectly listing 'class: Odonata' are shown. If these records are reclassified (by better error-checking on import?) maybe the taxon rank dupes would disappear.

David Hepper
Records Officer, British Dragonfly Society

David Hepper's Website

2 Reply by r.stock

  • r.stock
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  • Registered: 18-04-2023
  • Posts: 17

Re: Data fault report: Phylum Arthropoda contains unwanted Class entries

Hello David,

Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. I have contacted Chris Raper, Manager of the UKSI, to understand why Odonata and Diptera have been classified as a class of Arthropoda. Chris has let me know that these 'old/dead synonyms' have been dealt with in the UKSI during some recent tidying work.

These names (i.e., the Diptera and Odonata classes) have now been tagged as 'Redundant' names in the UKSI. However, as there are currently occurrence records matched to the Diptera/Odonata class on the NBN Atlas, these redundant names are still included in our version of the UKSI on the NBN Atlas.

Therefore, occurrences matched to the class may need to be reuploaded to the NBN Atlas as the order. We will then need to update the UKSI on the NBN Atlas, to remove the Diptera and Odonata class entries from the Arthropoda classification.

However, we will need to investigate further why the occurrences have been matched to the class rather than the order and this may involve consulting the data providers. So it may be some time before this issue can be resolved.

Until this issue is resolved, if you are using the Advance search you can supply the TVK for Odonata order (NHMSYS0000841086) rather than the taxon name.

We apologise for this issue, and we will try to resolve this issue as soon as we can. I will update you when this issue is resolved.

Thank you again for alerting us to this issue.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Rhiannydd Stock
NBN Atlas Support Officer