Taxonomic standards Leen Vandepitte On behalf of WoRMS data management team

Taxonomy is described sometimes as a science and sometimes as an art, but really it’s a battleground Bill Bryson A short history of nearly everything

Taxonomy: the “common denominator” Taxonomy from Ancient Greek: τάξις taxis "arrangement" and Ancient Greek: νομία nomia "method" = the academic discipline of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. To bring order into the “chaos” of species, to help scientists in how to deal with species, so they know they are talking about the same creature and to classify them in larger groups. International Code on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants Kingdom > Phylum > Class > Order > Family > Genus > Species

Taxonomy: human errors & variation Taxonomy: prone to spelling variations & mistakes Some names are harder to spell than others… Actinobacillus actimomycetemcomitans Actinobacillus actimycetemcomitans Actinobacillus actinmycetemcomitans Actinobacillus actinomicetemcomitans Actinobacillus actinomy Actinobacillus actinomyce Actinobacillus actinomycemcomitans Actinobacillus actinomyceremcomitans Actinobacillus actinomycetam Actinobacillus actinomycetamcomitans Actinobacillus actinomycetecomitans Actinobacillus actinomycetemcmitans Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomintans Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitance Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitants Actinobacillus actinomycetemcommitans Actinobacillus actinomycetemocimitans Actinobacillus actinomycetencomitans Actinobacillus actinomycetum Actinobacillus actinomyctemcomitans Actinobacillus actinomyectomcomitans Actinobacillus actinomyetemcomitans Actinobacillus actinonmycetemcomitans Actinobacillus actionomycetemcomitans Actinobacillus actynomicetemcomitans Actinobacillus antinomycetemcomitans Difficulties with Latinized Names Transcription errors Which one is correct? Controlled taxonomic vocabulary necessary! World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS)

Taxonomy: prone to computer errors Automatic “series filling” is not always recommended… Clupea harengus Linnaeus, 1758 Clupea harengus Linnaeus, 1759 Clupea harengus Linnaeus, 1760 Clupea harengus Linnaeus, 1761 Clupea harengus Linnaeus, 1762 … Clupea harengus Linnaeus, 2254 Clupea harengus Linnaeus, 2255 …

Taxonomy: many ways to (correctly) spell a name… Agalinus paupercula borealis Agalinus pauperculum borealis Agalinis paupercula var. Borealis Agalinus pauperculum var. borealis Agalinus paupercula var. borealis Agalinus paupercula var. borealis Pennell Agalinus paupercula Britton var. borealis Pennell Agalinus paupercula (Gray) Britt. var. borealis Pennell Agalinis paupercula (A.Gray) Britton var. borealis Pennell Agalinus paupercula (Gray) Britton var. borealis (Pennell) Zenkert 1934 Gerardia paupercula borealis Gerardia paupercula var. borealis Gerardia paupercula var. borealis (Pennell) Deam Gerardia paupercula (Gray) Britt. var. borealis (Pennell) Deam Gerardia paupercula (A. Gray) Britton var. borealis (Pennell) Deam Gerardia paupercula (A. Gray) Britton subsp. borealis (Pennell) Pennell Gerardia paupercula (Gray) Britt. ssp. borealis (Pennell) Pennell Gerardia paupercula Britton ssp. borealis Pennell

Taxonomy: variation in the author name Ceratium hirudinella Ceratium hirudinella (Muller 1773) Ceratium hirundienella Ceratium hirundinella Ceratium hirundinella (Mull ) Ceratium hirundinella (Muller ) Ceratium hirundinella (Muller 1773) Ceratium hirundinella (Muller) Ceratium hirundinella (O. F. Müller) Bergh Ceratium hirundinella (O.F. Müller) Bergh Ceratium hirundinella (O.F. Müller) Bergh Ceratium hirundinella (O.F. Müller, 1773) Dujardin, 1841 Ceratium hirundinella (O.F. M � ller) Bergh Ceratium hirundinella Dujardin Ceratium hirundinella O. F. M. Ceratium hirundinella O. F. Muller (Example from the Global Names Index - GNI)

Taxonomy – a complicated topic Synonymy Halichondria (Halichondria) panicea (Pallas, 1766) Bread-crumb sponge: more than 60 synonyms)

Homonymy Scientific name: Alebion Alebion Krøyer, 1863 => Animalia, Crustacea, parasitic copepods A name for a taxon that is identical in spelling to another such name, that belongs to a different taxon. Only one of the two names can stay “valid”, the other becomes “invalid”. Alebion Gray, 1867 => Animalia, Porifera => Accepted as Iophon Gray, 1867 Important to know the context of your dataset!

Taxonomy: how to deal with all this variation?  Link taxon names with World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS)  WoRMS:  Standard list of marine taxon names  First authoritative list of names of all marine & brackish water taxa worldwide  Managed by VLIZ, directed by taxonomic experts  Open access Follow international standards & serve permanent Global Unique IDs (LSIDs) Up-to-date and (near) complete (incl. synonyms &commonly used spelling mistakes)  If no link possible:  Consult with data provider(s)  Consult with taxonomic expert(s) at  Originally delivered name is always safeguarded!

DatasetBefore tax. check 1Amphiura sunderali 2Amphiura sundevali 3Amphiura sundvali 4Amphiura sundevalli DatasetBefore tax. checkAfter tax. check 1Amphiura sunderali 2Amphiura sundevaliAmphiura sundevalli 3Amphiura sundvali 4Amphiura sundevalli

Source: Vandepitte et al. (2010). Data integration for European marine biodiversity research: creating a database on benthos and plankton to study large-scale patterns and long-term changes. Hydrobiologia. “… In total, 6,172 unique taxon names were submitted... After a thorough quality control, however, this number was reduced to 4,525, mostly due to spelling variations and synonymy. Such [taxonomic] quality control is highly needed, since a misspelled or obsolete name could be compared to the introduction of a rare species, with adverse effects on further (biodiversity) calculations…”

Taxonomy: a challenge (and head-ache?) for data managers Uncertain identifications – Sp. 1, Sp. a, Sp. X … – Cfr., aff. … – Aphelochaeta spp./ Chaetozone spp. => Link to first higher taxonomic level! Dataset A (Spain)Dataset B (Greece) Acantholaimus sp. 1 Acantholaimus sp. 2 ?  Which equals which?  Specimen comparison!?  Reduction of information till genus level (Acantholaimus) = loss of biodiversity, but underestimation is preferred to overestimation

Cf. & aff. The term “cf” (or “cfr”) stands for “confer”, and loosely interpreted, means “looks like”. Acanthonchus duplicatus <> Acanthonchus cf. duplicatus Acanthonchus Bolbolaimus abebei <> Bolbolaimus aff. abebei Bolbolaimus

Aphelochaeta sp./Chaetozone sp.=> Cirratulidae – Identify higher classification of both genera – Find first common higher level – Aphelochaeta: Animalia – Annelida – Polychaeta – Terebellida – Cirratulidae – Chaetozone: Animalia – Annelida – Polychaeta – Terebellida – Cirratulidae Chaetoceros socialis/radians=> Chaetoceros Pterosperma/Pachysphaera – Pterosperma: Plantae – Chlorophyta – Prasinophyceae – Halosphaerales - Pterospermataceae – Pachysphaera: Plantae – Chlorophyta – Prasinophyceae – Chlorodendrales - Halosphaeraceae

Avoid abbreviated names: Calanus finmarchicus15 C. affinis20 C. pacificus1 Caligulus sp.48 C. affinis9 Acartia tonsa7 A. danae8 Balanus balanus156 B. crenatus54 Balanetta baylii2 Abarenicola devia8 A. affinis518 Achnanthes subaffinis5 A. affinis2 A. affinis518 A. danae8 Abarenicola devia8 Acartia tonsa7 Achnanthes subaffinis5 B. crenatus54 Balanetta baylii2 Balanus balanus156 C. affinis20 C. pacificus1 C. affinis9 Calanus finmarchicus15 Caligulus sp.48

Questions? Exercises on taxonomic quality control planned in afternoon session