Taxacom: a class of errors in Worms (and similar databases)

Sun Feb 23 14:17:07 CST 2025

Dear Eirkjan,
It is a good suggestion. Have you made it to WoRMS, and perhaps the Catalogue of Life?
Regards
Mark

Sent from Outlook for Android<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Faka.ms%2FAAb9ysg&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cf38c2ca49b064e83341408dd54470eb2%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638759386356411926%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ZJFfNyxAZuaXKYoM%2FbxJr0z1XyptNvXc2INKPXd04H0%3D&reserved=0>
________________________________
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> on behalf of Tony Rees via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
Sent: Sunday, 23 February 2025 17:54:47
To: Erikjan Rijkers <er at xs4all.nl>; World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) <info at marinespecies.org>; taxacom <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Subject: Re: Taxacom: a class of errors in Worms (and similar databases)

Dear Erikjan,

I believe you are right. I cannot think of a circumstance where a species
name without parentheses in the authorship should have an earlier year than
its containing genus, so that should be a sign that something is incorrect.
My database (https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irmng.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cf38c2ca49b064e83341408dd54470eb2%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638759386356431140%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=AiBKIQJx3wK14zg17ACmzRkZw%2ByVEjMHB5WfYLBNHx0%3D&reserved=0) has inherited a large number of species
binomials from other systems, but they have not undergone rigorous checking
in this respect and possibly never will, until we have resources to devote
to that task. But for other systems with more available editor effort, this
could certainly be a consideration for auto-checking, I would say.

Regards - Tony

Tony Rees, New South Wales, Australia
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fabout.me%2FTonyRees&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cf38c2ca49b064e83341408dd54470eb2%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638759386356443544%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=T4kLNhLliFf3PM83trGQfrzfWFPeMMkPFdEb1Ekt9X8%3D&reserved=0
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irmng.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cf38c2ca49b064e83341408dd54470eb2%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638759386356455776%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=uhY%2F3i0MxizeEHJJoxfvPeWkge2HgYJacbd5SoABp2Y%3D&reserved=0

On Sun, 23 Feb 2025 at 18:57, Erikjan Rijkers via Taxacom <
taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> This is a request to taxonomic database implementors/admins. The Worms
> database is just an example.
>
> On page
>    https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.marinespecies.org%2Faphia.php%3Fp%3Dtaxdetails%26id%3D344099&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cf38c2ca49b064e83341408dd54470eb2%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638759386356471348%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=4ZIO3Odxfl%2BKmsvz9jA%2Bk%2FLAkulnOofzs0WrThzBE0s%3D&reserved=0
>
> There is the species name and a genus name:
>    Papasula abbotti Ridgway, 1893
>    Papasula Olson & Warheit, 1988
>
> These are, of course, literature references. Ridgway in 1893 described
> Sula abbotti [1]. It seems clear that parentheses are needed, like so:
>    Papasula abbotti (Ridgway, 1893)
>
> The year of the genus being more recent than the species name, i.e.,
> 1988 > 1893, already implied that parentheses are needed.
>
> It seems to me such cases can be easily found automatically and changes
> could be made, perhaps also automatically, or at least flagged to the
> editor(s) concerned as a change that is probably needed.
>
> Perhaps such changes or flagging could be implemented? It seems such a
> small and simple improvement.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Erikjan Rijkers
>
>
> [1] https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.biodiversitylibrary.org%2Fpage%2F15780967&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cf38c2ca49b064e83341408dd54470eb2%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638759386356485735%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=2sQJ376x7hEQDuB0%2BJM8nvdaAYeFLKLLWIyxhRCljGA%3D&reserved=0
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom Mailing List
>
> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for 38 years, 1987-2025.
>
> Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
> For list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
> https://lists.ku.edu/listinfo/taxacom
> You can reach the person managing the list at: taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu
>
>
>
_______________________________________________
Taxacom Mailing List

Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for 38 years, 1987-2025.

Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
For list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.ku.edu/listinfo/taxacom
You can reach the person managing the list at: taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu