Merops taxon

organism names

Merops taxon stores common and scientific names of organisms in easily maintainable data tables enabling automatic correction and mark-up.

Two of Darwin’s Galapagos Finches

Name matching

Merops taxon uses precise and fuzzy pattern-matching methods to identify names. For example, the agreed common name for the species Aepypodius bruijnii is Bruijn’s Brush-turkey: each of the following is matched, and the standard applied if required:

• Bruijn Brush-turkey • Bruijn’s Brush Turkey • Bruijn’s brush turkey

A key feature of Merops taxon is its ability to return the scientific name if only the common name has been used, saving considerably on research time.

Formatting

Linnaean convention dictates that scientific names of genera, species and subspecies are shown in italics, while families, orders, phylums, divisions and classes are presented in Roman, and that subspecies and varieties are not italic. Abbreviations are also made consistent:

Brassica campestris ssp pekinensis var. dentate
Brassica campestris subsp. pekinensis var dentata

⇒ Brassica campestris ssp. pekinensis var. dentata

Case
consistency

Some publishing bodies have rigorous guidelines on how names should be presented. Often these rules are qualified by context. For example, common names of species may be shown in upper and lower case (e.g. European Beaver), but general nouns are all lower case (e.g. beavers).

Linnaean convention for scientific names has higher-level groups with an initial capital (e.g. Cnidaria), but derivatives are lower case (e.g. cnidarians). Merops taxon will apply these conventions, and ensure genus and species names are consistent (Amanita phalloides, not Amanita Phalloides)

Authorities

Merops taxon can add, or standardize, authorities, e.g. Dendrolimus pini ⇒ Dendrolimus pini (L.)