I recently came across this ridiculous situation:
It may be common in mainland Australia but not in Tasmania.
I added “large bird-orchid” to the taxon page as the common name for Tasmania but it still shows up as “common bird-orchid” on the observation headings. Is that something only a curator can change?
Personally, I think “common” is a word that should be avoided in common names. The commonness of organisms can change and if something is called common in books but is now rare, it could be put more at risk from people ignorant of that change. As an example, Caladenia pattersonii was once called the common spider-orchid but late last century was split into a number of different species, some of which are listed as threatened, yet I saw a relatively recent field guide still calling it the common spider-orchid. People probably pick them thinking they are common.
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This is a interesting comment that I find very thought-provoking… I would be in favor of a mass study looking at the long-term abundance of species formerly known as “common”.
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When it comes to Australian plants, “Common” usually refers to hard to find taxa.
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I have moved Large Bird-Orchid to the top priority name, as it’s clearly the most commonly used name across Australian portals and sites (including multiple state herbarium portals). I have still retained the name Common Bird-Orchid as an alternative name, however, as it is also used by several portals (including one state herbarium portal)
any future cases like this, please flag the taxon directly on iNat and a curator will re-prioritise the names for you
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