the species group Large genera can often become unwieldy, necessitating infrageneric ranks. In many cases authors wish to group similar species together for identification purposes, but do not want to give the group a formal name such as required for subgenera or sections. The species group fills t…

Fair enough, poor word choice on my part.

Interested to hear if this request is still under consideration. I understand the desire too keep the number of taxon levels to a reasonable limit, however it feels weird to offer a bunch of options for plant taxonomy and less so for animals - it has been demonstrated the ‘species group’ is used ac…

I would agree with everything that’s been said, this should go between subsection and complex. This is a fairly common rank (much more so than complex or subsection in groups I’m familiar with) and would be quite helpful.

Yeah, I would like to see this as well. There are even some groups in Pentatomidae that aren’t necessarily explicitly recognized as “species groups” by the experts that I would be interested in discussing some sort of option like this for. Having a hard time phrasing this well, so let me try to ex…

I think in those cases the species complex would be more appropriate - i.e. very closely related species that are difficult or impossible to separate from photos. The species group is intended to be more broad, closer in concept to subgenera.

Would LOVE this! It would be so useful - for example, for implementing Habronattus species groups, which are here: https://bugguide.net/node/view/6776/tree

So, if I understand correctly, this could be used as a way to divvy up a genus in a way that gives a more specific identification to a subset of species which can be grouped together somehow. To paraphrase, you intend for these simply pragmatic, functional groupings which likely do not have a formal…

No, that is not accurate. The species-group is a valid taxonomical rank and used in phylogenetic studies, as is the case for the section with plants

They are informal in the sense that they are not governed by rules of nomenclature (e.g. ICZN, ICBN), but they are often precisely defined and used in the literature.

Create a new taxon rank for iNaturalist: the species group

Feature Requests

ameeds August 21, 2020, 5:06pm 15

Gotcha.

Show pop-up selection window to allow choice between section/complex and species when the scientific names are the same.

Topic		Replies	Views
Large genera with formal species-groups Curators	25	3087	June 12, 2022
Use of the Term "Species Complex" in iNaturalist Taxonomy General	29	1510	December 4, 2024
Show pop-up selection window to allow choice between section/complex and species when the scientific names are the same. Feature Requests web , mobile-app	7	181	June 3, 2026
Implement the botanical rank "series" between subsection and complex Feature Requests	23	2382	February 2, 2026
More on species complexes Curators	27	2869	April 17, 2022

Create a new taxon rank for iNaturalist: the species group

Related topics