Platform (Android, iOS, Website): web
URLs (aka web addresses) of any relevant observations or pages: inaturalist.org/taxa/new
Step 1: Go to inaturalist.org/taxa/new and try to create a species which has the name Libystica complex
(It was originally described under a different genus, but the epithet really is complex)
Step 2: Save taxon.
Step 3: Notice that the word complex was removed, the taxon is just called Libystica.
(reported in https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/549808)
I bet it’s because people were appending “complex” and “group” to the scientific names for species complexes for a while (e.g., Complex Condylostylus sipho group), before iNat adopted an official style recommendation. Now you aren’t supposed to add any extra words, and maybe this is a way to try to curb that behavior automatically.
This isn’t a question of why iNat is removing the epithet – it’s absolutely because complex is a rank name, see https://github.com/inaturalist/inaturalist/blob/4e369800b974fe8f7361c9d1e5b005b3b434783f/app/models/taxon.rb#L2210-L2217
The issue is that this is a legitimate name, and it’s not the only one with this epithet:
I support stripping ranks from taxon names in general, but it might be nice if there could be a message like “parts of this name were stripped automatically, if this was in error, please contact help@inat”.
At any rate, it’s definitely not an issue that curators can fix.
We could make an exception for “complex”. Are there any other words that should also be excepted?
I don’t think this counts as a bug because I think this is iNat working as intended, rather an unforeseen consequence. Let me know if I should put this elsewhere.
When trying to add two subspecies from this flag:
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/562988
I’ve run into an issue, one of the subspecies Sceliphron fossuliferum complex cannot be properly saved as it deletes ‘complex’ from the name and saves it as Sceliphron ssp. fossuliferum.
I assume this is to prevent anyone from putting complex in the name of a complex but in this case the subspecies’ name is complex.
Is there a way to fix this or do staff need to edit/add the name?
Welcome to the forum! I moved your post to this existing bug report. There is no way for a curator to fix this, but perhaps someone on staff will help out.
With regard to botanical nomenclature, “complex” is not a rank.
There’s a similar issue to this one: the web site Upload page (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/upload) strips the word “complex” from photo tags that include the word “complex”, such as Oedipina complex or Complex Fan-foot. This leads to a new observation receiving an incorrect initial ID, in similar fashion to how a new taxon containing “complex” becomes mis-entered.
Well… there’s Notsodipus domain, and Paralampona domain, both spiders. But we don’t use domains…
Is “group” not a useable term to use in place of “complex” to prevent this confusion with species or subspecies epithets using the name “complex”?
“Species group” was already proposed as a rank distinct from complex:
Ok, maybe use complex in quotes or parentheses or some other small modification so it’s not confused with an epithet?
Given that the issue is with people typing ‘complex’ into the name field when they shouldn’t I don’t think this is a solution. Perhaps just have a pop up with an explanation and an option to continue or not?
bringing this back since it appears the specific epithet complex has recently(?) disappeared from Oedipina complex, which now simply displays as Oedipina https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/27360-Oedipina https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/630002
Just tagging on - in the other flag i mentioned some ‘insect’ which i now found again - Family Noctuidae, Genus Libystica
Which is the exact same insect cause of this thread starting, now long ago.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/549808
Hello! Any updates on this?
We’re still having the issue with this.
Bumping! Still doesn’t seem resolved.
Hi - no need to “bump” bug reports. Bug reports are marked solved and closed when issues are resolved.
This is a feature not a bug. Some species are just not accepted on iNaturalist due to name restrictions.
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/27360-Oedipina-komplex
This is just silly to me. komplex? Species scientific names are not something you can just edit on a whim.
Oedipina komplex ≠ Oedipina complex
There just needs to be “onboarding” in case a curator user tries to save a taxon with name like “Genus species complex“ (for taxon at the rank of complex) instead of the correct “Genus species”.
Just a simple prompt to confirm they know this rule and don’t mess it up! Current workflow feels unnecessary and restricting… We should educate rather than limit functionality, or only restrict it in very specific edge cases where it makes most sense e.g. see above.
On the other hand, why is it even a problem to save taxa like “Oedipina complex” which are at species level and not at complex level..?
My personal trouble was this taxon (ended up just adding an extra ` symbol), I can see how it would’ve also triggered the system due to “Genus species complex“ format, but at the same time - it’s not at the “complex” but at “subspecies level right?:
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1633433-Trogoderma-sternale-complex-
Note that I’m aware of the current behavior - it just removes all mentions of word complex automatically and that’s it.
