Update Taxon Lists

The following are instructions on how to update a taxon list after you have received an email from a student informing you that the taxon list for a particular publication was completed, and needs an update for taxonomy.

Download the taxon file from the phenoscape-fileshare

To download a copy of the taxon file, you will need to connect to the Phenoscape file share. Ask a PhenoScaper for username and password.

After connecting to the file share, navigate to the "Working Taxon lists (to phenex)" folder and copy the relevant file to your desktop.

Open file in Phenote+

Make sure that you have an internet connection before starting Phenote+ as the software will need to download updated ontology files if available.

Start up Phenote+ (click "Update All" if the update panel appears) and check that you are using the Taxon configuration of Phenote (to check, go to Settings>Set Configuration, and confirm that ‘phenoscape_taxon’ is chosen. You may need to restart Phenote+ for the configuration to appear). Open the taxon file using File>Open.

Below is a screenshot of the taxon configuration:

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Review Taxon List

Taxon Lists are spreadsheets with five fields used to record information from a publication's materials list (see screenshot above). The Publication field records the name and DOI of a publication if available. The Publication Taxon field is a free-text field used to record the name of a taxon used in the publication, and the Valid Taxon field is an ontology-enabled field linked to the Teleost Taxonomy Ontology, and records the current, valid name of the taxon. Comments or questions about a particular entry are recorded in the Taxon Comments column, and the Specimens field is linked to a table that lists specimen information (museum vouchers).

You can sort the data by clicking on any column header. Sort the "Taxon Comments" column to view the questions or comments that a student recorded about the taxon list. Also sort by "Valid Taxon" to view missing entries.

Make updates or requests

The following are examples of incomplete entries that a taxon expert may encounter when reviewing a taxon list. If you make any updates on a file or submit term requests for an entry, be sure to write a dated note in the Taxon Comments column detailing your actions (and preserve any previous notes left by a student).

1. Taxon name misspelled: Choose the appropriate name from the Valid Taxon field, and add note in Taxon Comments field (e.g., correctly spelled valid taxon name chosen, Your Name, 7/28/2008)
2. Taxon name not found: If the missing taxon name is a synonym of a valid name, then the synonym will need to be added to the taxonomy ontology. Add a note in Taxon Comments field (e.g., taxon XY is synonym of XZ: submitted TTO request on 7/28/2008 by Your Name). Leave the Valid Taxon field blank.
3. Unnamed or unknown species: Examples of unnamed or unknown species in a Materials list might include: Danio sp., Cyprinus sp. 1, Cyprinus sp. 2, Danio aff. dangila, Danio cf. dangila, etc... These names should be added to the taxonomy ontology with reference to the publication. In this example, for a publication by Smith 2008, the request for new species names would be:

• Danio sp. (Smith 2008)
• Cyprinus sp. 1 (Smith 2008)
• Cyprinus sp. 2 (Smith 2008)
• Danio aff. dangila (Smith 2008)
• Danio cf. dangila (Smith 2008)

Taxonomic Requests

You need only submit one request per publication. See term request instructions for the TTO.

Museum Code Requests

We use the Fish Collection Codes spreadsheet on Google Docs, along with the taxonomy term tracker, to request the addition of missing codes, or request addition of synonyms of an existing code. See instructions here

Copy updated file to fileshare

Upload the updated taxon list to the folder named "old lists now updated by TTO requests" on Phenoscape fileshare.

Update entry for publication on Google Docs

Remember to make a note (dated) in the Taxon List Notes column of the shared publication spreadsheet on Google Docs (ask a PhenoScaper for access to the spreadsheet), recording that you have reviewed the taxon list and made any necessary term requests.