ITIS standard fields

By default all Scratchpad taxonomies have three basic fields: the term name, parent and description. This is not really enough when dealing with biological classifications. We have therefore developed a special way to deal with biological classifications that follows the standards used by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) and is compatibel with other initiatives.

The fields we use for biological classifications are:

Standard Scratchpad fields: ITIS fields:
 * Term name: A combination of the different unit names and indicators.
 * Parent term name: An ITIS term denoting the taxon that is the next highest level from the subject valid or accepted taxon. The parent of a species is usually a genus; the parent of a genus is usually a family, and so on. This parent-child linkage between records is the basis for the classification hierarchy in ITIS.
 * Term description: The term description field is usually not used for biological classifications.
 * GUID: The global unique identifier for the term name. GUIDs can be used to compare/synchronize different databases. Adding a GUID is not required, you only need it if your names were generated from an established database and you want to be able to update your names from this database at a later stage. Note that the GUID really has to be globally unique, at least across the whole Scratchpad. So it is not enough just to start counting from "1". Better is a combination like "Species2000-1"
 * Parent GUID: The global unique identifier for the parent term name. Adding a Parent GUID is not required.
 * Associated accepted_name: The scientific name of the valid or accepted taxon identified as the currently accepted name used for a given invalid or not accepted name. Each name that is in synonymy (junior synonyms, obsolete combinations, etc.) must be connected to one accepted or valid name.
 * Authors: The author(s) associated with the name of a taxon. This can include the year of publication and brackets, e.g. "(Quoy and Gaimard, 1832)".
 * Page number: The page number the taxon was described on in the protologue. This field is not part of the ITIS standard.
 * Rank: The label associated with the specific level of a taxonomic hierarchy, e.g. "Family", "Genus" or "Species". For values check ITIS or the taxonomic editor for an existing classification on your site. Note that the spelling and capitalisation of the ranks in your import file must match the ranks in the Scratchpad!
 * Unacceptability_reason: An explanation regarding why a given scientific name is judged to be invalid or not accepted. Unacceptability reasons vary among kingdoms. For values check ITIS or the taxonomic editor for an existing classification on your site. Note that the spelling and capitalisation of the reasons in your import file must match those in the Scratchpad!
 * Unit indicator 1: Indicator of an occurrence of a plant hybrid at the generic level. The only value allowed is "X".
 * Unit name 1: The singular or first part of a scientifically accepted label for an occurrence of Taxonomic Units. For uninomials (1-part names like family or genus names) this will be the only name field entered. For binomials/polynomials, this field will be used for the first part of the name (the genus name). The names in this position require the initial letter to be capitalized.
 * Unit indicator 2: A category indicator positioned between the first and second parts of a binomial/polynomial taxonomic name. The only value allowed is "X".
 * Unit name 2: The second part of a scientifically accepted label for a binomial/polynomial occurrence of Taxonomic Units (the species epithet).
 * Unit indicator 3: A category indicator located within a polynomial taxonomic name. Allowed values are: "ssp." (plants and fungi), "subsp." (animals and monerans), "var.", "subvar.", "f.", "subf.", and "X".
 * Unit name 3: The third portion of a scientifically accepted label for a polynomial occurrence of Taxonomic Units (e.g. subspecies name).
 * Unit indicator 4: Same as unit indicator3.
 * Unit name 4: The fourth part of a scientifically accepted label for a polynomial occurrence of Taxonomic Units.
 * Usage: Current standing of an occurrence of Taxonomic Units. Allowed values are: "accepted" (plants and fungi), "not accepted" (plants and fungi), "valid" (animals and monerans), and "invalid" (animals and monerans).
 * Vernacular names: Enter vernacular names for this taxon, comma-separated. This field is not part of the ITIS standard.