Data guidelines for checklists

Term	Status
taxonID	Required
scientificNameID	Share if available
acceptedNameUsageID	Share if available (?) --> taxonomic checklist
parentNameUsageID	Share if available (?) (depends on scope)
originalNameUsageID	Do not use
nameAccordingToID
namePublishedInID
taxonConceptID
scientificName	Required
acceptedNameUsage	Share if available
parentNameUsage	Share if available (depends on scope)
originalNameUsage	Do not use
nameAccordingTo	Do not use
namePublishedIn	Do not use
namePublishedInYear	Do not use
higherClassification	Do not use
kingdom	Required
phylum	Strongly recommended
class	Strongly recommended
order	Strongly recommended
family	Strongly recommended
genus	Strongly recommended
subgenus	Share if available
specificEpithet	avoid use
infraspecificEpithet	avoid use
taxonRank	Required
verbatimTaxonRank	Do not use
scientificNameAuthorship	Avoid use
vernacularName	Share if available
nomenclaturalCode	Required
taxonomicStatus	Share if available
nomenclaturalStatus
taxonRemarks

General

Regional checklist

Taxonomical checklist

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

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