The benefits and drawbacks of adding coarse identifications

The true unknowns disserve a special attention. Suggestions:

  • flag all possible experts (based on the location or the candidates taxa),
  • create a traditional project to collect these observations,
  • use the “Similar observation set” observation field to put together all observations that are likely the same species.

There are also true unknown species identified at the rank genus or tribe. Whenever possible, they shall not be lost with all other observations of the same genus or tribe.

I consider a name or ID as an arbitrary label (varying with languages) and as a tool to sort similar things. As a consequence, grouping similar things with a “Similar observation set” observation field is almost equivalent to identifying them. At least, most of the work can be done like that. This is what happened to Senna weddelliana (details here).

Another example is these Subtribe Cassiinae observations, still unidentified. Most likely a Senna species (or subspecies) from Australia. The day we get the name, 28 observations will be identified at once.

Pointing out (and sorting, as far as possible) the true unknowns is important.

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