The document discusses scientific names for species and challenges around managing them globally. It notes that while there are estimated nearly 2 million known living species, there is no single comprehensive compilation of their scientific names. It describes how names are governed by various taxonomic codes and lists maintained by different authorities. The document advocates for building a global infrastructure to interconnect taxonomic data and names across sources on the internet in order to improve discovery, access and reuse of this information.
2. Mostly referring to species
Binomial and author Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758
Binomial
Generic vehicle
Species epithet
Author of names
Date of publication
Ideally - One valid name for a species, and each name
used for only one species
Roles
Traditional, as tokens for species (the global
inventory), overseen by taxonomists
New, in an infrastructure to manage data
3. Don’t know
There is no single comprehensive compilation
Estimated 1,900,000 living species reported
Estimated 300,000 extinct species reported
Estimated 250,000 genera appropriate
Estimated 30,000 suprageneric taxa appropriate
Global Names Index has 22,000,000 name-strings for
names
Names are common knowledge
Openly available in the scientific literature
4. The are associated with data
Can be used as metadata
To index content
And build a names-based
cyber-infrastructure to
interconnect data distributed
across the internet 9
There are problems …
5. One taxon with one name
Many lexical variants
All legitimate
This list is very incomplete
6. Eastern Lowland Gorilla King kong
ゴリラ
Mountain gorilla
Gorilla berengei Gorille
Gorilla beringei Matschie Virunga
Gorilla beringei mikenensis
Gorilla gorilla
大猩猩
Горилла
Gorilla graueri
Koko
Guerilla
Gorila
7. VERNACULAR NAMES OBJECTIVE SYNONYMS
Gorilla English Gorilla beringei
Mountain Gorilla English Gorilla beringei Matschie, 1902
Eastern Gorilla English Gorilla beringei mikenensis Lönnberg, 1917
Eastern lowland gorilla English
Gorille des plaines orientales French Typos
Grauer’s gorilla English Gorilla berengei
Горилла Russian
Gorila Spanish Koko
Bergsgorilla German King kong
Låglandsgorilla Swedish Guerilla
Bwindi Kinyarwanda
Virunga Kinyarwanda
大猩猩 Chinese
ゴリラ Japanese
SUBJECTIVE SYNONYMS
Gorilla graueri Matschie, 1914
Gorilla beringei graueri (Matschie, 1914)
Gorilla gorilla
9. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes
International Code of Nomenclature of Algae, Fungi and
Plants
Determine how names are created (they have to be
published in the public domain)
Manage alternative names (synonyms)
Prevent re-use of same name (homonyms)
10. International Plant Name Index
Index Fungorum
List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in
Nomenclature
ZooBank and various speciality nomenclators
Judicial
Compile lists of names that are compliant with the
relevant Code
Point to nomenclatural acts in the literature
Are moving from paper to the e-world
11. Make judgments
Discover and describe new species
In compliance with the Codes of Nomenclature
Review taxonomic knowledge (confirming, merging or
splitting previously described species)
Create hierarchical lists of species (classifications)
Provide citations for nomenclatural and taxonomic acts
12. Users need to access
multiple sites
In the digital age, lists have been End users
compiled and aggregated in databases
Built into compilations
(such as jellyfish of the world)
Global
Periodically revised by Aggregators
taxonomists, the process Domain
includes judgments that compilations
incorporate prior
judgments Taxonomists
Revisions
Created and managed Taxonomists
by thousands of Literature New records
taxonomists Records
Records of 2.3 million species
distributed in 500 million pages
13. All names to index all content End users
Linked through a unifying
infrastructure Infrastructure
Retaining the taxonomic
value, not repeating, just Global
pointing to it Aggregators
Alternative names Domain
reconciled compilations
Offering resolution – Taxonomists
the name according Revisions
to a taxonomic Taxonomists
authority Literature
New records
Records
27. No complete list
No comment system for improving quality (such
systems exist elsewhere)
Reticence to allow content downloads
Absence of web-services to ensure free and instant
flow of content
Licensing constraints assume rights
Uncertainty about legalities regarding
Names
Compilations of names
Data associated with names
Opinions associated with names
Editor's Notes
Resolution service at work (point out that GNRD is in here too)