Processing of Taxonomic Identifiers in GBIF

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GBIF processes taxonomic identifiers that are provided on the DwC elements scientificNameID, taxonID and taxonConceptID, when these identifiers belong to any of the identifier schemes available. The identifiers are retrieved from ChecklistBank and linked to taxa in the checklist. Currently, the schemes available are:

  • CoL: The Catalogue of Life (COL) is the most comprehensive initiative to compile a single, integrated list of all known species worldwide. It relies on a global network of taxonomists and informaticians to ensure accuracy and completeness. It should follow the format:

    ^col:([2-9BCDFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ])

    Example: col:Z72V

  • Dyntaxa: A taxonomic database of the names of Swedish organisms, which contains information on current classification, recommended names and commonly used synonyms and misused names. It should follow the format:

    ^(?:dyntaxa|artfakta|urn:lsid:dyntaxa.se:Taxon):(\\d)

    Example: urn:lsid:dyntaxa.se:Taxon:106661

  • IPNI: The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) is a nomenclatural index of names of vascular plants published under the Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants (ICN). It should follow the format:

    ^(?:ipni|urn:lsid:ipni.org:names):(\\d-[1-3])

    Example: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:50959-2

  • ITIS: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System, an authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world. It should follow the format:

    ^(?:itis|tsn:)(\\d)

    Example: tsn:80028

  • UK Species Inventory: A database of all UK wildlife, which provides the taxonomic foundation for most biological recording and analysis systems for the UK. It should follow the format:

    +^(?:uksi|nhm):((?:NHMSYS|NBNSYS)\\d{10})

    Example: nhm:NBNSYS0000161229

  • WoRMS: The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms, including information on synonymy. It should follow the format:

    ^(?:marinespecies|worms|aphia|urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname):(\\d)

    Example: urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:538339

When both an identifier field and a scientificName are provided, the identifiers will be used first for matching, and if there is more than one identifier present, the information on taxonID will take precedence. A match will also be made using the scientificName, and a comparison will be made between the two matches.

Taxonomic flags and issues are assigned during pipeline processing if inconsistencies are detected in the applied identifiers.