1 Reply by Richard Wright

  • Richard Wright
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Re: Unknown Scientific Name?

I have just tried running the NBN Record Cleaner to check records of Coleoptera exported from Mapmate. I was pretty horrified to discover thousands of records marked as failed on the basis of Unknown Scientific Name.

Most of these fall into the category of species whose names have changed relatively recently. I assume, however, that the names used on the NBN Gateway are the same as those used by the Cleaner. If so, consider this case :

Ophonus puncticeps is the current name for the species that was previously known as Harpalus puncticeps. Entering Ophonus puncticeps on the Gateway shows no species found. However, entering Harpalus puncticeps produces Ophonus (Metophonus) puncticeps. Harpalus puncticeps is given as a synonym, but Ophonus puncticeps is not. Is this why these records are marked as failed? Is it because the person who worked on this part of the species dictionary failed to include the name which is used by the vast majority of British coleopterists? I don't know anyone who uses these Genus (Subgenus) Species names.

Most importantly, what can I do about it?  The names can't be changed in Mapmate. There are many species in this category.

Richard Wright

2 Reply by MikeWeideli

  • MikeWeideli
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Re: Unknown Scientific Name?

The NHM's position on this is explained in post http://forums.nbn.org.uk/viewtopic.php?id=539
It looks like the use of sub genus in scientific names is now the standard and that the Record Cleaner and Recorder will need to be adapted to recognise these when matching, checking and reporting.

Mike Weideli

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3 Reply by Richard Wright

  • Richard Wright
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Re: Unknown Scientific Name?

Thanks for the reply, Mike. I've followed the various links and found out more.

However, I don't think there is any need for Recorder or the Cleaner to adapt. The problem is really inconsistency in the species dictionary. Most species also have the simple Genus/Species name as a synonym and hence there seem to be no problems in recognising them. But quite a few species have this missing. For example, in the large genus Bembidion there are just 4 species out of 31 in my file that have this problem. It just looks like carelessness on the part of whoever prepared this part of the dictionary. I wouldn't have thought it would be too difficult to correct these entries.

On a practical note, as my 83,000 records are much too many for a spreadsheet, I opened the Tab text file in Wordpad and just used Replace All to change a few names. It seems to work OK. Before I spend a few hours doing the rest, is there any reason why this shouldn't work without problem?

Thanks
Richard Wright

4 Reply by sallyrankin

  • sallyrankin
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Re: Unknown Scientific Name?

Before you go to the bother of changing a lot of names I suggest you try an import into Recorder 6. If you switch on "Auto-complete search in Import Wizard" on the General tab in Tools – Options, you should find it relatively easy to match the taxon names in your import file to names in Recorder 6. Matching a lot of names when using the import wizard is tedious but probably not a tedious as changing them all in Excel. If you back up the database first and you don’t like the way anything has imported you can always restore your backup although you will lose your remembered matches.

Sally Rankin, JNCC Recorder Approved Expert
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5 Reply by MikeWeideli

  • MikeWeideli
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Re: Unknown Scientific Name?

Probably needs some more thought and investigation. Are the synonyms only  there because they exist on older list ?  If the inclusion of the sub genus in new lists is going to become standard then I am not sure we want to have the name withouth the sub-genus in as a synonym every time.

Mike Weideli

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6 Reply by Richard Wright

  • Richard Wright
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Re: Unknown Scientific Name?

Binomial scientific names are always valid for any species, e.g. Bembidion illigeri is just as valid a name as is Bembidion (Nepha) illigeri and so should be recognised, but isn't. Use of the trinomial is very rare in papers published in the UK and I doubt if many coleopterists, even professionals, know the subgeneric names in most cases.

Personally I don't care if trinomials are the preferred names, so long as binomials are always recognised.

It appears that this use of subgeneric names is because the species dictionary "has to fit in with European and International initatives" though I thought that the first "N" in NBN stood for "National" and that therefore the first priority should be to ensure that things work smoothly for the UK.

Richard Wright

7 Reply by Graham French

  • Graham French
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Re: Unknown Scientific Name?

Hello Richard

Yes the NBN Record Cleaner, NBN Gateway and Recorder all use the Species Dictionary, managed by NHM. Currently work is going on to update the species dictionary and as part of this new equivalent binonmial taxon names are being added to the species dictionary for species or infraspecific taxa that include a subgenus. Once this is available I will be able to update the species dictionaries used in the NBN Record Cleaner and NBN Gateway (and also Recorder 6) so that binomial names should be matched

Best wishes

Graham
NBN Technical Liaison Officer

Graham French's Website

8 Reply by Richard Wright

  • Richard Wright
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Re: Unknown Scientific Name?

Graham
Thanks for that.
But which will be the preferred name? I actually looked up in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) Chapter 2: "The number of words in the scientific names of animals" where Article 5.1 states (as it always has done) : The scientific name of a species, ............................ is a combination of two names (a binomen), the first being the generic name and the second being the specific name." (my emphasis).
At no point does it say "unless someone has decided that the subgeneric name should be included". This seems to suggest that the binomen should be the preferred name. It would certainly be preferred by every recorder I have ever spoken to.

On another point, there are problems with recent species splits. For example, the click beetle Melanotus villosus as previously understood in the UK is now known to include two species M. villosus and M. castanipes. It is therefore impossible to know to which species most records actually refer, though M. castanipes appears to be commoner, perhaps considerably so. Should there not be some sort of aggregate into which these records can be consigned? At present, they all seem to remain under M. villosus which therefore appears to be common on the Gateway, while M. castanipes appears to be very rare. New species splits appear so often that there should surely be some policy and provision for dealing with them.

Richard Wright

9 Reply by Graham French

  • Graham French
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Re: Unknown Scientific Name?

Hello Richard

The species dictionary includes an aggregate table to help with issues resulting from taxonomic splits so an aggregate taxon could be added with M. villosus and M. castanipes as segregates. Charles Hussey who manages the NBN species dictionary should be able to give more information on the policy for dealing with these. He may also be able to give information on nomenclature rules behind including subgenera names as the preferred name of the species.

Best wishes

Graham

Graham French's Website