Hi folks - while we’d like to stick with flags for discussing/deciding specific taxonomic tasks (which in the birds case would be things like deviating from Clements), we think its appropriate to use the forum to solicit help orchestrating this Clements update (since its a decided curation task). So I’m reopening this thread.
Aside from a few deviations, iNaturalist is currently aligned with Clements 2019. We’d like to start the processing of updating to Clements 2021 - note our target is the Clements Checklist v2021 CSV or Excel spreadsheet available here, not the ones that say eBird. If you naively compare iNaturalist with the new Clements 2021 checklist based on names, you can think of three categories based on overlap between the lists:
I’ve created a spreadsheet here that includes sheets for the Not in Clements (1,217 names) and Not in iNaturalist (1,373 names) categories
The first step we need to do is go through all the “Not in iNaturalist” names in the spreadsheet and figure out the proper destination taxon (i.e. the taxon that is in Clements 2021 where all the content associated with these taxa should end up). Any help filling out the spreadsheet by adding these names to the Destination column of the Not in Clements sheet would be hugely appreciated!
We need to get the first step done completely before moving forward (i.e. all 1,217 names should have destinations), but here’s what will happen next. We can use those destinations to sort out one-to-ones (situations where the name has changed but the actual taxon hasn’t changed such as being moved to a different genus or a spelling change) as well as lumps. This will also allow us to reduce the size of the Not in iNaturalist list (note in this example how we were able to remove Amphispizopsis quinquestriata from this list since its involved in a one-to-one).
Lastly, we can deal with the hardest part which is figuring out which one of the remaining Not in iNaturalist taxa need to be added via a split from some other taxon (e.g. E. eremodites) and which ones can just be added because they aren’t going to cause significant issues changing the meaning of existing IDs (e.g. C. anderseni).
Once, we get the first step done (filling out the destination column on the spreadsheet) I’ll re-crunch the Not in iNaturalist list and add a second step here for helping sort out the splits.
Many thanks for your help with this. I think this update should be relatively quick and painless if folks can help with tasks ‘step 1’ described here. Please focus on step 1 for now and hold off on flagging taxa on iNat, discussing deviations, or making draft taxon changes - we’ll get to those in turn