Managing Taxonomy and Nomenclature

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Workflow summary
Changing a name
Setting taxon concept

The electronic platform provides different functionality that enables the management of nomenclatural and taxonomic changes, with snapshot versioning and archiving. Any nomenclatural or taxonomic changes from existing profiles must be consulted with the ABRS, as some functions require administrative access

Workflow summary

The below image describes the workflows for managing taxonomic and nomenclatural changes on the eFlora platform. There are three main types of changes that can occur on the platform.

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Changing a name

The example provided here is that of updating legacy (digitised hard-copy FoA) data to be in line with modern APC concepts.

  1. Navigate to the profile with the old nomenclature. In this case, Eucalyptus citriodora.


This shows that the FoA legacy profile has matched to its accepted name (Corymbia citriodora) via the synonyms stored in the ALA names cache. This comes across in the names used in the taxonomic hierarchy, the AVH maps, the images and the ALA button next to the profile name.

The NSL button links back to the name Eucalyptus citriodora, and pulls the first reference from that APNI name for the protologue under the name. However, retaining old nomenclature here is a problem for navigating through the eFlora taxonomic hierarchy and keys that are derived from APC taxonomy.

2.  Click “Options”-> “Edit”. This will bring up the editing page.

3.  Click the “Edit name” button next to the profile name.

4.  In the Profile Name dialogue box, type “Corymbia citriodora”, and click “Check name”. This will match to the name “Corymbia citriodora (Hook.) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson”.

5.  Click “Update Name”. This will update the profile name to the APC name.

Note that the NSL linkage now flows through to the Corymbia citriodora search in APNI, and has updated the protologue to reflect that.

6.  Once completed, ensure that the nomenclatural information is updated to reflect the changes by selecting the right taxon concept (next section).

NOTE: Authority and Infraspecific taxa:

subspecies

The platform has trouble dealing with presenting the authority on some names (particularly type infraspecies). To deal with this go to “Edit Name” next to the profile name whilst in “Edit Mode”:

  1. Type in the species name with the authority in the correct place and click “Check name”
    subspecies2
  2. Click “Update Name”
  3. The changes should now be visible.
    subspecies3

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Setting the taxon concept

Once the profile has been created, the taxonomic concept as applied on the profile must be set. This is through a link to a specific APNI instance, and will display the appropriate publication and synonymy information in the nomenclature block.

  1. Scroll to the “Nomenclature” attribute, below the fillable text attributes.
  2. Select the CHAH Australian Plant Census concept from the drop down menu.
  3. Save the changes.

Below is an example of the APNI instances and the associated synonymy information as drawn in the Nomenclature attribute.

This information is then displayed as per the formatting in APNI on the main profile page, as a drop down feature.

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