Troubleshooting species complexes

General
20

Thanks for everyone’s input. To summarize the discussion, here are the issues that I think have been identified, and some suggested solutions.

Identified issues to solve:

  1. The name of each species complex should be unique. It should not be the same as a valid species or other taxon on iNaturalist.
  2. The naming protocol for species complexes should be consistent.
  3. The rank of species complex is also being used for “species groups”. These taxa could potentially have a different naming protocol.
  4. The name that iNaturalist displays for the species complex should be the actual name that iNaturalist is using for that taxa, so that it comes up in a search.
  5. The name of the species complex should come up as a suggestion when someone starts typing in the name of the representative species
  6. There should be documentation for each species complex that explains what is contained within the complex and some explanation as to why the complex was created.
  7. Observations that are identified to the rank of species complex should automatically receive Research Grade status in the same way as observations identified to the species rank.

Suggested solutions:

  1. All species be named as the representative species followed by “complex” if it is a species complex, and “group” if it is a species group. Eg. “Dasysyrphus intrudens complex” and “Chrysoperla carnea group”. This follows the accepted Open Nomeclature.
  2. Alternately, to prevent confusion with subspecies, the word “species” could be added for all names, creating “Dasysyrphus intrudens species complex” and “Chrysoperla carnea species group”.
  3. When someone creates a new species complex, there is a prompt that either recommends or forces them to follow this naming scheme.
  4. A template is created that outlines what documentation is required to create a species complex on iNaturalist. When someone creates a new species complex, there is a prompt that either recommends or forces them to fill out this template.
  5. All iNaturalist users who have already created a species complex are contacted, and asked to edit these taxa to bring them up to the new standard.
  6. A feature change so that the word “Complex” is not added in front of the name of species complexes.
  7. A feature change so that if someone tries to identify an observation to the rank of species when a species complex exists, they are prompted to confirm whether or not that level of ID is possible.
  8. A feature change so that observations identified to the rank of species complex automatically receive Research Grade status in the same way as observations identified to the species rank.
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