<html><head><base href="x-msg://78/"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">It seems to me there are at least two issues: <div><br></div><div>(1) what to do with unranked (or awkwardly ranked), informally named, taxonomic groups and </div><div>(2) whether to put a 'value' into the epithet field -- when the specimen is not identified to the species level.<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>With regard to the second issue - I'd recommend leaving that field empty (NULL)... in both of your examples, the specimen has not been associated with an available species name. Using 'sp' only confuses things because 'sp' is not an epithet. Is there any information content difference between "Terellia (virens group)" and "Terellia sp. (virens group)". "n.sp" similarly is not an epithet -- although it has 'some' information -- this is something that could be put in a field not associated with nomenclature, but with notes about the specimens (.e.g, that someone thinks it's an undescribed speces).</div><div><br></div><div>With regard to the first issue, I'm not sure how an informal rank would best be dealt with. The species groups you mentioned are in some regards "superspecies" and perhaps Article 6.2 of the ICZN is applicable (see below). But I'm pretty certain that superspecies aren't a darwincore rank...or how they'd be dealt with.</div><div><br></div><div>-Chris</div><div><br></div><div><p>6.2. <span class="title">Names of aggregates of species or subspecies.</span>
A specific name may be added in parentheses after the genus-group name,
or be interpolated in parentheses between the genus-group name and the
specific name, to denote an aggregate of species within a genus-group
taxon; and a subspecific name may be interpolated in parentheses between
the specific and subspecific names to denote an aggregate of subspecies
within a species; such names, which must always begin with a lower-case
letter and be written in full, are not counted in the number of words
in a binomen or trinomen. The Principle of Priority applies to such
names [<a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted-sites/iczn/code/includes/page.jsp?nfv=&article=23#3.3">Art. 23.3.3</a>]; for their availability see <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted-sites/iczn/code/includes/page.jsp?nfv=&article=11#9.3.5">Article 11.9.3.5</a>.</p>
<a name="rec6B"></a>
<div class="recommendation"><p><span class="title">Recommendation 6B. Taxonomic meaning of interpolated names.</span> An author who wishes to denote an aggregate at either of the additional taxonomic levels mentioned in <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted-sites/iczn/code/includes/page.jsp?nfv=&article=6#2">Article 6.2</a>
should place a term to indicate the taxonomic meaning of the aggregate
in the same parentheses as its interpolated species-group name on the
first occasion that the notation is used in any work.</p>
<div class="example"><p><span class="title">Example.</span> In the butterfly genus <i>Ornithoptera</i> Boisduval, 1832 the species <i>O. priamus</i> (Linnaeus, 1758) is the earliest-named member of an aggregate of vicarious species that includes also <i>O. lydius</i> Felder, 1865 and <i>O. croesus</i> Wallace, 1865. The taxonomic meaning accorded to the <i>O. priamus</i> aggregate may be expressed in the notation "<i>Ornithoptera</i> (superspecies <i>priamus</i>)", and the members of the aggregate by the notations "<i>O.</i> (<i>priamus</i>) <i>priamus</i> (Linnaeus, 1758)", "<i>O.</i> (<i>priamus</i>) <i>lydius</i> Felder, 1865", and "<i>O. </i> (<i>priamus</i>) <i>croesus</i> Wallace, 1865".</p></div></div></div><div><div><div>On Mar 27, 2012, at 12:58 AM, Peter Oboyski wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div class="hmmessage" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma; "><div dir="ltr">Hi all,<br><br>Forgive me if this has been discussed already. I am trying to decide how to deal with species groups in our database. Here are some real life examples.<br><br>Eg. Terellia sp. (virens group)<br><br>option 1:<br>Genus: Terellia<br>SpecificEpithet: virens<br>TaxonCertainty: species group<br><br>option 2:<br>Genus: Terellia<br>SpecificEpithet: sp. (virens group)<br><br>Eg. Oecetis new sp.? inconspicua group<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br><br>option 1:<br>Genus: Oecetis<br>SpecificEpithet: new sp.<br>TaxonCertainty: "?"<br>how do I incorporate the group?<br><br>option 2:<br>Genus: Oecetis<br>SpecificEpithet: n.sp. (inconspicua group)<br>TaxonCertainty: "?"<br><br>---------------------------------------------------<br>Peter T Oboyski<br>University of California<br><a href="http://nature.berkeley.edu/~poboyski/">http://nature.berkeley.edu/~poboyski/</a><br>---------------------------------------------------<br><br></div>_______________________________________________<br>tdwg mailing list<br><a href="mailto:tdwg@lists.tdwg.org">tdwg@lists.tdwg.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.tdwg.org/mailman/listinfo/tdwg">http://lists.tdwg.org/mailman/listinfo/tdwg</a><br></div></blockquote></div><br><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Christopher Marshall</div><div>Curator & Collections Manager<br>Oregon State Arthropod Collection<br>Zoology - Oregon State University<br>Corvallis OR, 97331-2914<br><a href="mailto:marshach@science.oregonstate.edu">marshach@science.oregonstate.edu</a></div><div><br></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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