Data guidelines for checklists

Note: these recommendations are mostly for thematic and regional checklists, not taxonomic descriptions.

Terms

Term	Status
taxonID	Required
scientificNameID	Share if available
acceptedNameUsageID	Do not use
parentNameUsageID	Do not use
originalNameUsageID	Do not use
nameAccordingToID	Do not use
namePublishedInID	Do not use
taxonConceptID	Do not use
scientificName	Required
acceptedNameUsage	Do not use
parentNameUsage	Do not use
originalNameUsage	Do not use
nameAccordingTo	Do not use
namePublishedIn	Do not use
namePublishedInYear	Do not use
higherClassification	Do not use
kingdom	Required
phylum	Share if available
class	Share if available
order	Share if available
family	Share if available
genus	Share if available
subgenus	Do not use
specificEpithet	Do not use
infraspecificEpithet	Do not use
taxonRank	Required
verbatimTaxonRank	Do not use
scientificNameAuthorship	Do not use
vernacularName	Share if available
nomenclaturalCode	Do not use
taxonomicStatus	Do not use
nomenclaturalStatus	Do not use
taxonRemarks	Do not use

taxonID

Should be globally unique and preferably stable. GBIF uses the taxonID to assess if a (re)published taxon is a new one or one they already have. We therefore strongly recommend to choose a taxonID that is as globally unique and stable as possible. If such a taxon identifier is not present in the source data or the identifiers used there can easily change over time (e.g. numbered rows).

Suggested components to combine as input for taxonID:

• dataset shortname
• scientific name
• kingdom

Scientific name and kingdom can be used as input for a hash function. This function creates a randomized code of fixed length from an input value. For a given input value, the code will always be the same and unique.

Some examples:

• ...
• ...

scientificNameID

acceptedNameUsageID

Generally only useful if taxonomic checklists:

acceptedNameUsageID # ...
acceptedNameUsage
parentNameUsageID
parentNameUsage

Share if an acceptedNameUsage is provided

parentNameUsageID

Share if an parentNameUsage is provided

originalNameUsageID

Do not use, use scientificNameID if available

nameAccordingToID

Do not use, we hardly have ...

namePublishedInID

Do not use, we hardly have ...

taxonConceptID

Do not use, we hardly have ...

scientificName

Should preferebly include date and authorship information in case of genera / species (higher level?)?

e.g. ...

acceptedNameUsage

Use if synonyms, ... are also included in the list

parentNameUsage

Use in case higher hierarchy is also included in the list, e.g. ...

originalNameUsage

Do not use, rather link to the scientificNameID

nameAccordingTo

Do not use,...

namePublishedIn

namePublishedInYear

higherClassification

Avoid use, this

kingdom

phylum

class

order

family

genus

subgenus

specificEpithet

Avoid use, this information is provided in scientificName

infraspecificEpithet

Avoid use, this information is provided in scientificName

taxonRank

Required. The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientificName. Recommended vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/rank.xml

verbatimTaxonRank scientificNameAuthorship vernacularName nomenclaturalCode taxonomicStatus nomenclaturalStatus taxonRemarks