On uncertain identity

Biodiverseteers record specimens taken in the field, or found in collections,  in various ways including:

•    Giving the specimen(s) what they believe is the correct name
•    Giving only the genus followed by ‘sp’ for ‘species’ indicating that it is a member of that genus but that identification has not proceeded to species level.
•    Putting the abbreviation ‘cf’ before the species name indicating that what they had before them had many characteristics of a particular species, but also significant differences.

These examples are illustrated in this passage:

Cranston (1982) recorded the following either on the surface or in the space below loose bark on submerged branches in the stream flowing through Crowborough Warren, East Sussex: Brillia modesta, Brillia longifurca, Metriocnemus cf hygropetricus, Polypedilum pedestre, Polypedilum sp and Thienemannimyia sp.

Some authors sometimes put a question mark in front of the full name or specific name  -      ? Brillia modesta, Brillia ? modesta - meaning it looks like Brillia modesta, but that there is a level of doubt.  Others use ‘sp. aff.’ (a species with affinity to - Brillia sp. aff. modesta).

At present  when there is uncertainty about the specific status of an animal or plant even by a world expert it can, in RECORDER, only be recorded at generic level (Brillia sp.) or left as unverified, in which case it will not appear in reports

It would be useful if cf and other less-than-certain determination qualifiers could be included as options in RECORDER.  Clearly the finder might have discovered something quite important and looked at it quite carefully, which is very different from the individual who simply says “I cannot do this genus to species level.”  Apart from anything else, cf and similar records may well be worth following up at some future date and might represent a rare or even new to science species with a very restricted distribution.  Unverified records should perhaps also be considered for inclusion in reports as they might be correct and important

Note: cf is an abbreviation of the Latin word confer meaning ‘compare’ or ‘consult’ though in the cases cited above it would appear to mean ‘similar to’ or, perhaps, ‘that it should be compared with impeccably determined examples of the species in question’.