All,

I was recently in Colombia and they have a two new species that were very recently identified and not in the current taxanomic lists. Can I enter the scientific names in by hand and add them? If so how?

Thanks

Hi Deb,

The sort answer is "yes". Just about everything in BD is user-customizable. However, that doesn't mean that the concepts and understanding involved are non-trivial. This task is quite easy using the Thing Editor in conjunction with the Tax Editor (this applies to v3.6 or later) and this is covered briefly in another How-To topic in this forum. But, the tough part comes in understanding the underlying proper use of things in BD.

The first thing to figure out is whether your two new species are truly new and not already in the BD database.

So - I want to answer this completely, but first would like for you to give me the two new species (common names and scientific names) along with the authority which is describing these birds. Then I will walk you through the complete process of first, determining if these things already exist, and then what to do next.

Let's start here.

Jeff

To make use of this new forum, I'd like to expand a little on Jeff's answer above, giving a real-world example of why you may need the Thing Editor, the Tax Editor, or both.

Let's say that as of the start of this year, the birding Powers-That-Be recognized a species called "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler", Vireowarblero purpleoventrio. The species is known to occur throughout Central and South America, but in two forms: the one in Central America has a green underbelly, while the South American one has a blue underbelly. Each form is recognized as a subspecies; the green-bellied form V.p. greenio and the blue-bellied form is V. p. blueio.

The "things" database will have entries for each form: those "things" might have the names "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler greenio" and "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler blueio". In addition, there is the species-level "thing" called, simply, "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler".

On March 1, the AOU's South American Classification Committee, on reviewing the evidence about differences between the two forms, votes to recognize each one as a separate species. The originally described form, with the green belly, keeps the name Vireowarblero purpleoventrio, and the blue-bellied form becomes Vireowarblero blueio, and the common name in English becomes "Blue-bellied Vireo".

Remember, because the "new" species was previously recognized as a subspecies, the "things" database already has a reference for that "thing"; it's just now a full species, instead of a subspecies The SACC taxonomy list would have an entry for "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler" with the scientific name of Vireowarblero purpleoventrio, and it would be linked to, or pointed at, the thing "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler".

So the SACC taxonomy would need updating; the name "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler" would be removed, and the name "Blue-bellied Vireo" (Vireowarblero blueio) would be added, pointing to the thing "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler blueio". Assuming the NACC followed suit, the AOU list (covering Central America) would likewise be updated to have ITS "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler" point directly to the thing "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler greenio". The "thing" formerly simply known as "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler" would simply not be linked to either taxonomy. In both cases, the checklists for the affected countries would also need to be updated.

Still another possibility is that a species currently found in other areas expands into a jurisdiction covered by a separate taxonomic list. Imagine, for instance, that the Northern Cardinal's range expanded southward dramatically and was now being seen regularly in Columbia. The "thing" Northern Cardinal already exists in the database, and it doesn't exist at all (currently) on the SACC taxonomy list, so no "correcting" is necessary: instead, the SACC taxonomy would just have a new entry, "Northern Cardinal", pointing to the existing "thing" Northern Cardinal.

In other words, if there is already a "thing" which uniquely identifies the "new" species, then only the Tax Editor is needed. However, let's assume that instead, an entirely new species is actually discovered - something that isn't described by any existing "thing". That still happens down in South America. Let's say it's a brand-new species of parrot, the Crimson-tailed Violet Macaw, newly discovered in Peru, not a subspecies of anything already described - just something nobody's seen before. In such a case, first a "thing" would have to be created, and then each taxonomy which covers that geographic area (SACC, Clements, Wells, etc.) would have to have a new entry made to recognize the discovery.

Or, less common nowadays, but still possible: two or more species, each represented by a "thing" in the database, might be lumped into one. If this were 1960, "Slate-colored Junco" (Junco hyemalis) would be a separate species from "Oregon Junco" (Junco oreganus), and each would point to a respective "thing" in the database. When the two species (and others) were merged into "Dark-eyed Junco", a new "thing" was needed, and each of the existing "things" was relegated to subspecific rank.

That's why it's important to know whether taxonomic changes are the result of new species discoveries, range expansions, or lumps or splits of existing species.

Kevin Morgan

Thanks Kevin! I really like the idea of this forum.

I would add one thing:

...The "thing" formerly simply known as "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler" would simply not be linked to either taxonomy....

Actually, with BD tax lists, in this situation, we keep the former thing in the tax list, we attach it at the Genus level. So "Purple-vented Vireo-Warbler" would be known by the genus Vireowarblero. This way, the sightings of this new superspecies can still be found and reported on using the updated tax list.

fyi

Jeff

Deb responded with:

I am not sure I know the authority but here are the species and I will look into the authority. 
santa marta screech owl - megascops gilesi
santa marta foliage gleaner - automalus rufipectus

Now - using the Tax Viewer in Birder's Diary

1. Select "Clements" latest tax list
2. Search on Genus Automalus does not find an exact match, but does find Automolus. I assume a typo above.
3. Looking under that Genus and expanding each species I look for a subspecies by the name of rufipectus. This is usually how subspecies get elevated to species status. Their subspecific name gets used at the specific level.
4. I find A. rubiginosus rufipectus - Ruddy Foliage-gleaner rufipectus. This must be the Santa Marta Foliage-gleaner you mention above and should be what you log your sighting against. Clements notes this subspecies is found in the "Santa Marta Mtns of NE Colombia".

Performing the same search for any reference to gilesi in a subspecific or specific name was not found in BD using the Rosetta stone and typing gilesi into the scientific name field. So, let's pretend it is a never-before documented species and one not already described under another name within Clements.

1. Add a new thing to Birder's Diary for Santa Marta Screech-owl
   1. Open the Thing Editor by clicking on the Things toolbar buton
   2. Type "Santa Marta Screech-owl" into the Thing Description text field
   3. Add a comment
   4. Check the Auto Create Name on New Thing checkbox; the thing description name is added as a current alias name
   5. Click the Add button - see screen shot below
2. Add the new thing to the Clements taxonomic list
   1. Click the Taxonomy Editor button at the bottom of the Thing Editor
   2. Type "Santa Marta Screech-owl" into the Thing field
   3. Select "Clements" tax list from the tax list dropdown; the Preferred Common Name drop down is auto-populated with an alias - the only one we defined for this Thing.
   4. Type "Western Screech-owl" into the Preset field - this will auto-fill the Classification fields to match the western screech-owl.
   5. TAB down to the species field and press the Delete key to clear this field
   6. Type "gilesi" into this field
   7. Change the Sort After field to reflect where you want this species to appear among the other Megascops species. Or leave it as is.
   8. Click the Add button - see screen shot below (you will get a prompt asking for a description of the new "gilesi" specific name - type anything you like or leave empty)

Now you have created a new thing inside BD, Added a reference to it in Clements and assigned it a common name.

You can now add sightings for this thing using Clements.

However, this thing is not associated with any locations in BD. This is easy to remedy.

1. Open the Checklist Editor by clicking on the Checklists toolbar button
2. On the right-hand side (Thing Checklist), type "santa marta screech-owl" into the Name field
3. Click the Load button next to the Name field. It will not load anything as we have yet to define anything.
4. Type Colombia into the Location field
5. Click the PLUS sign button to add that location to this Thing
6. Click the Update button to save these changes.

Now - you have completely added this thing to BD, added a reference to it in Clements, and associated a location to it.

Let me know if you have any questions or if anyone can add anything to this.

Jeff