# Improvements to taxonomic curation on iNat - wiki

**URL:** <https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/improvements-to-taxonomic-curation-on-inat-wiki/5398>\
**Category:** Curators\
**Created:** [July 28, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/improvements-to-taxonomic-curation-on-inat-wiki/5398 "2019-07-28T15:55:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

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**Author:** ![bouteloua](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/bouteloua/32/1180_2.png) [@bouteloua](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/bouteloua)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/improvements-to-taxonomic-curation-on-inat-wiki/5398/1 "2019-07-28T15:55:49Z")

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### General 🦠

- Recruit more active curators (see [backlog of taxon flags](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/big-ol-backlog-of-taxon-flags/4464))
- Improve the Curator Guide by making it more user-friendly. Separate “policies” from “how-tos”?
- More useful Curator dashboard - adding taxa, creating taxon changes, creating taxon framework relationships
- Develop a better location to discuss taxonomy than iNaturalist Working Group collection projects

### Taxa 🌺

- Search for inactive taxa in main search (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/search-for-inactive-taxa-in-header-search-at-least-for-curators/80))
- Update the external importer (from 2012 CoL) to allow users to import additional taxon names
- Mark a higher taxon as “complete”, e.g. for large plant genera and plant families
- Indicate which date a clade was considered “complete”
- Prevent addition of improperly formatted names from external sources (see [bug report](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/clean-up-and-prevent-the-automatic-addition-of-new-taxon-names-that-truncate-in-subs-ss-or-va/5045))
- Allow more users to edit taxa at rank=order and above to help clean up backlog of stranded / duplicate taxa
- Fix whatever is broken in the CoL/EoL external lookup tool which all users can use for species creation that is causing so many duplicate taxa to be created (e.g. [this bug report](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/fabales-already-exists-in-the-tree-but-the-name-keeps-getting-imported/14008))
- Identify and lock homonym genera, e.g. so that fish species don’t get automatically grafted to fungi genera
- Fixing names per taxonomic codes
  - Fix incorrect capitalization of names (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/dont-automatically-strip-capitalization-in-scientific-names/6265))
  - Standarize formatting for hybrids per ICN & ICZN
  - Fix/Standardize incorrect formatting for subgenera, sections, and subsections per ICN & ICZN (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/display-genus-along-with-subgenus/14107/5))
  - Italicize virus names (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/italicise-all-viral-taxa/16971))
  - Allow Arabic numerals in virus names (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/allow-virus-species-names-to-include-numbers/20045))

- FEATURE ADDED ~~Allow editing of conservation status authority (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/allow-editing-of-conservation-status-authority/20287/2))~~
- FEATURE ADDED ~~Allow more users to edit taxon names to reduce “pointless” taxon changes for things like typing/spelling mistakes, e.g. epithet ending in “-a” vs. “-us” or hybrid symbol “x” → “×” (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/allow-taxon-curators-to-edit-taxon-names-reducing-pointless-taxon-changes-for-fixes-like-epithet-ending-changes-or-adding-hybrid-symbols/15050))~~

### Flags 🎋

- Fix confusing “back to flags” link ([see report](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/back-to-flags-link-doesnt-always-lead-back-to-flags/8750))
- Indicate presence of other flags on that item on the detail page (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/indicate-presence-of-other-flags-on-flag-detail-page/8432))
- On taxon framework relationships, show _all_ flags on descendants rather than just 10
- Customize flag homepage (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/allow-curators-to-customize-what-appears-in-flags-section-of-home-dashboard-page/77616))
- Add notification for new flags on taxa you are interested in
- FEATURE ADDED ~~Edit taxon from /flags page (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/edit-taxon-from-flags-page/9834))~~
- FEATURE ADDED ~~Show filter for taxa on flags page before committing search (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/show-taxon-filter-on-flags-page-before-committing-search/12452))~~

### Taxon Pages 🦟

- Clearly visually indicate type of taxon framework relationship, e.g. a color for match vs. deviation vs. unknown and type: alternate position, many-to-one, etc. (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/visual-indicator-on-taxonomy-details-link-on-taxon-page/1644))
- `[+]` to view descendants rather than have to click through
- Automatically incorporate links to external sites like POWO or Reptile Database via Wikidata, like the taxonbar on Wikipedia pages
- Distinguish between a genus _known_ to be unplaced to subfamily, tribe, or subtribe (no curation action needed) or if the genus was grafted there without checking. Same with species and subgenera and sections
- FEATURE ADDED ~~Link to edit a taxon included on the taxonomy tree on the Taxonomy tab (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/edit-a-taxon-directly-taxonomy-tab-curators-only/5402))~~

### Taxon Changes 🦗

- Require a source and/or reason for each taxon change (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/mandatory-source-or-reason-in-taxon-changes/279))
- Search _all_ taxa when adding an output taxon. Currently can only “Browse all species” for input taxa. Way to get around this is to assign a temporary fake common name to the output taxon, e.g. “zzzzz”, so that you can actually find it in search.
- Rename “taxon swap” to something more explanatory, i.e. to indicate that it’s a 1:1 name transfer
- More obvious visual cue that a taxon is flagged on the taxon change draft / final page
- Show atlases on taxon changes (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/show-atlases-on-taxon-changes/10357))
- Genus and higher splits, from sensu lato to sensu stricto + other taxon/taxa → automatically transfer any remaining descendants to the output taxon with the same name. It currently requires that we temporarily regraft the parent taxon so that we can activate the output taxon and reassign the descendants to the output taxon. it shouldn’t require this weird finagling
- Like genus to genus, automatically rename descendant taxa when swapping genus to subgenus, section, or subsection, and vice versa ([see feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/automatically-rename-descendant-taxa-when-swapping-a-genus-into-a-subgenus/13425))
- Validate taxon change commit attempts in certain cases (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/help-prevent-disruptive-taxon-changes-with-validation-process/8941))
- For taxon splits, be able to move input descendant taxa to the correct output ancestor at commit time, especially if some but not all of those descendants require automated taxon changes to update their names (e.g., genus split).
- FEATURE ADDED ~~Subscribe to a taxon change (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/subscribe-to-a-taxon-change/15667))~~
- ~~For automatic taxon changes, manually edit output taxon binomials if needed (e.g., change the ending from “-a” to “-um”.~~ (trivial binomial ending changes [can now be made manually](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/show-taxon-filter-on-flags-page-before-committing-search/12452))

### Taxon Framework Relationships 🐚

- When new taxa are added, automatically create taxon framework relationship for matches
- Allow curators to run job to sync from external authorities to create taxon framework relationships rather than require them to be created one by one manually
- Link to taxon page and taxon edit page (see [feature request](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/link-to-taxon-page-on-taxa-with-unknown-relationships-page/10367))

### Taxon Curators 🐌

- Create personal landing page that lists all flags relevant to the taxa you are curating
- Make process to become a taxon curator more transparent
- Recruit more active taxon curators

## Sources 🌾

- Clean up duplicate sources / make taxonomic authorities easier to select
- Require a source when adding a new taxon

### Policies 🦋

- What to do for dang Lepidoptera epithets supposedly “in apposition”?
- What to do with undescribed species, esp. those that are included in the external authorities? (see [discussion](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/adding-undescribed-taxa-to-the-inat-taxonomy/3906))
- General guidelines regarding when to make changes to align with authority and when to first initiate a discussion to consider community buy-in or potential deviation

* * *
This list of ideas is intended to \*exclude\* things like default photos, conservation statuses, geoprivacy, ranges, checklists, and atlases and just focus on the names / taxonomy.

It’s a wiki, so please edit this post directly. ✏

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_[View the full topic](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/improvements-to-taxonomic-curation-on-inat-wiki/5398)._