My example is genus Callithrix. There are three-species hybrid zones where sometimes you have to leave an observation at genus because the photos are too poor, and sometimes it’s clear that the individual is definitely a hybrid, but it’s not clear exactly what the mix is. I would like to be able to mark Callithrix hybrid to distinguish the second type of observation from Callithrix genus (not enough detail to determine further).
Can I make a taxon with the scientific name Callithrix × and the common name Callithrix hybrid? Or is that not ok? Should I just ID to Callithrix and use an observation field?
It sounds like what you want is a spuh. Am I’m obtaining the information correctly that you want Calithtrix sp. hybrid?
From what I know adding these spuhs will make the taxonomic tree more complex and I’m not sure who said it but the tree most be “as clean as possible”. I can experience this frustration as well. Such as I know what I’m looking at a Canada/Cackling Goose × Snow/Ross’s Goose hybrid but I’m not sure what species are actually the parents. At least they’re in different genera though so I at least have that. But I don’t believe you can do the same for an unknown Anas hybrid and it must be left at genus.
No, but there’s a discussion about this (and cultivars, which are often unidentifiable hybrids) here https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/treating-cultivars-different-than-wild-taxa-to-have-the-option-to-exclude-them-from-searches/8158
In theory, would this not do what I’m looking for?
Basically, I’m wondering if the system is incapable of handling this type of taxon, or if we just have a mutual understanding that we shouldn’t use it like that?
Pretty sure it would just “work” and treat it like any other hybrid, but I would think there’d need to be staff approval / a sitewide policy before making a fake / bin taxon like that.
Would a feature request be appropriate even though it doesn’t involve any code change? Or just a general discussion?
I think just a general discussion here in #curators, initially seeded with a few laid out examples, pros, and cons would be fine instead of a feature request. It could turn into a feature request if there should be some sort of standardized format or rank for these.
Closing this topic since the discussion has shifted to here:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/suggestion-allow-hybrids-that-specify-a-genus-only/9739