# Scientific name changes **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [April 17, 2021, 8:07pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/scientific-name-changes/22122 "2021-04-17T20:07:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![henryy1355](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/henryy1355/32/7573_2.png) [@henryy1355](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/henryy1355)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 8:07pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/scientific-name-changes/22122/1 "2021-04-17T20:07:42Z")
When a scientific name changes and an observation uses the old name what do you do? The old name is the same organism (synonymy). Do you “disagree” and use the new name with reference to the old name or “agree” and note the new name in the comments. ---
**Author:** ![chrisangell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/chrisangell/32/20651_2.png) [@chrisangell](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/chrisangell)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/scientific-name-changes/22122/2 "2021-04-17T20:16:36Z")
Depends. Is the new name supported in the iNat taxonomy? If yes, then disagree with the incorrect ID and suggest the right one. If the iNat taxonomy is out of date (or you disagree with it), agree, note the new name, and flag the taxon for curation. Per the FAQ: > ##### I don’t agree with iNaturalist’s taxonomy. Do I have to follow it when I add an ID? > > As much as possible iNaturalist tries to follow secondary taxonomic authorities, for reasons explained [here](https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/curator+guide#policies). We understand that not everyone will agree with the current taxonomy on iNaturalist, but we believe it is important that when you add an identification to an observation, you should follow the taxonomy here. This is important because: > > - It ensures we are all talking about the same things. While you may not personally _agree_ with our current definition of _Exampelia generica_, everyone on iNaturalist will at least understand what is _meant_ by an ID of _Exampelia generica_. > - When taxonomy _is_ updated, those updates will be correctly reflected in the ID. > - It prevents messy taxonomic arguments on observation pages, where they don’t belong.So if you don’t want to follow iNaturalist’s taxonomy for a taxon, please refrain from adding an ID for said taxon - you can add a polite comment instead. If you have an issue with any taxon on iNaturalist, you can go to the taxon’s page, click on Curate (under the graph) and select “Flag for curation”. There you can write a note (citing evidence), and the site [curators](https://inaturalist.ca/pages/help-inaturalist-canada-en#general6) can discuss your proposal. > > iNaturalist’s taxonomy is a communally-curated synthesis, and thus no one agrees with all of it. If you can’t accept a taxonomy that you don’t completely agree with, iNaturalist is probably not the place for you, and you should instead consider other data recording platforms. ---
**Author:** ![mathieu\_h](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/mathieu_h/32/15441_2.png) [@mathieu\_h](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/mathieu_h)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 8:30pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/scientific-name-changes/22122/3 "2021-04-17T20:30:01Z")
I would agree, note the new name in comment and flag the taxon for curation. It reminds me that these two still haven’t been adressed: [https://inaturalist.org/flags/520416](https://inaturalist.org/flags/520416) and [https://inaturalist.org/flags/520418](https://inaturalist.org/flags/520418) EDIT: for the examples above, the new names are already on iNaturalist. ---
**Author:** ![kmagnacca](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/kmagnacca/32/7212_2.png) [@kmagnacca](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/kmagnacca)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/scientific-name-changes/22122/4 "2021-04-18T01:59:54Z")
Be aware that it’s somewhat different in practice for plants and animals. Because plant names rely primarily on Plants of the World Online, which tends to adopt new names quickly and relatively uncritically, they get updated fast (sometimes too fast for my tastes, where new synonymies are unjustified, but that’s how it goes). But since there isn’t a similar central resource for animals, or even most subgroups of animals, they tend to lag much further behind. ITIS and GBIF, two of the major sources, are often quite out of date. ---
**Author:** ![mamestraconfigurata](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/mamestraconfigurata/32/10149_2.png) [@mamestraconfigurata](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/mamestraconfigurata)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/scientific-name-changes/22122/5 "2021-04-18T14:30:36Z")
As well, iNat has a list of ‘approved’ taxonomic authorities. So for insects (NA), it follows Bugguide taxonomy. From what I understand, this is for two reasons: it’s open source, so anyone can access it; it has reasonably up to date taxonomic data for a notoriously difficult group. See [Curator Guide · iNaturalist.ca](https://inaturalist.ca/pages/curator+guide#authorities) ---
**Author:** ![henryy1355](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/henryy1355/32/7573_2.png) [@henryy1355](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/henryy1355)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/scientific-name-changes/22122/6 "2021-04-18T19:43:13Z")
Specifically for Fungi finding the original source peer reviewed paper can be difficult. Fortunately many are open access. It gets problematic when there are a large number of journals etc where you need to pay significant amount of money to get access to the paper. In addition to Species Fungorum [http://speciesfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp](http://speciesfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp) there is MycoBank [https://www.mycobank.org/](https://www.mycobank.org/) which I prefer for synonymy. Then there is the species range issue… ---
**Author:** ![jasonhernandez74](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/jasonhernandez74/32/33615_2.png) [@jasonhernandez74](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jasonhernandez74)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2021, 3:27am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/scientific-name-changes/22122/7 "2021-04-19T03:27:18Z")
A related issue is when there are several conflicting names available on iNaturalist. For instance, Taro – most people default to _Colocasia esculenta_, but as you can see, it is possible to get quite messy, disputing whether _esculenta_ is the species and _antiquorum_ the subspecies, or the reverse. Of the dropdown taxa shown in the screenshots, _C. affinis_ is the only one that is undisputedly not a synonym of the rest. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/b/c/bc0029ea95dacef7cad83cf2adc7d50064c1134d.jpeg) ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/0/8/087f64ca0f28dd47502f85e988f6650b223688a8.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![kmagnacca](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/kmagnacca/32/7212_2.png) [@kmagnacca](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/kmagnacca)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 6:14am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/scientific-name-changes/22122/8 "2021-04-25T06:14:32Z")
This is very strange. I don’t see why there is any debate about the correct species name unless antiquorum is considered a separate species from esculenta. The former is from 1832 and the latter from 1753, so esculenta is unambiguously the senior synonym. See here: [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/31894#page/141/mode/1up](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/31894#page/141/mode/1up) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 6:14am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/scientific-name-changes/22122/9 "2021-06-24T06:14:40Z")
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