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Sz-Yi Tsai, Jin-Ying Lee, Kuo-Fang Chung Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility, Biodiversity Research Centre, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
Abstract
Taxonomic Name Usage (TNU) is the entry of a scientific name cited in a reference, reflecting the taxonomic viewpoint on the usage of the name. Like most taxonomic databases, earlier versions of the Catalogue of Life in Taiwan (TaiCOL), the national database that maintains the most complete authoritative list of Taiwan’s species, were designed solely for collecting scientific names as well as related information, unable to reflect various opinions of TNUs in different taxonomic literatures over time. To incorporate and preserve diverse taxonomic viewpoints essential for taxonomic studies, TaiCOL develops the Scientific Names Management Tool (TaiCOLNT) to record TNUs so that a species checklist reflecting different TNUs can be generated by TaiCOL. Based on the former TaiCOL checklist as the backbone (also saved as TNUs), all TNUs were aggregated for creating taxonomic groups, accompanied by a series of processes including handling logic of homotypic synonyms and autonyms, identifying the most current name usage within these groups, processing misused names, reviewing taxonomic viewpoints, and then updating taxon (including accepted name changes, taxon merges, splits, or newly added taxa). The status of a name within a group is determined based on the latest reference which are prioritized in the following order: published literature (including books and journals), unpublished materials (such as research reports, theses, government documents, etc.), and finally, taxonomic backbone. By comprehensively recording taxonomic relationship and history provided by TNUs using TaiCOLNT, TaiCOL has effectively reduced taxon redundancies in synonyms and misapplied names. By implementing TaiCOLNT, TaiCOL can even provide multiple taxonomic opinions in the near future.
