Taxonomy module

EMu has extensive support for scientific information about specimens and other resources. Chief amongst this is the Taxonomy module, which is used to record detailed information about taxa relating to a collection and which incorporates the full taxonomic hierarchy from the most broad level Kingdom to the most narrow levels such as Subspecies. The Taxonomy module records the scientific names of species, the relationships between names (synonymies), and details that support the scientific name (citations, type specimens, etc.). In addition, the Taxonomy module automatically records historical "Filed As" information as classifications are changed.

A Taxonomy record can contain all of the following and more:

• The scientific name of a species (more than twenty ranks can be completed if required).
• Details about citations.
• Details about authors (of the taxonomic name and of citations).
• Attachments to records of a Type specimen In Taxonomy Type specimens are specimens selected to typify the described species. They are made available (often in museums) for study by Taxonomists. The Type Series is all specimens on which the description of a new species or genus is based. The Holotype is the single specimen published as "the Type" by the Name Author. An Isotype is a duplicate specimen of the Holotype collected at the same place and time as the Holotype. The Syntype is one of two or more specimens cited by the author when no Holotype was designated or it is any one of two or more specimens originally designated as Types. The Neotype specimen is selected as the Type where the original Types are known to be destroyed. Paratypes are the non-Holotype Syntypes. and other specimens referred to in citations.
• Homotypic and heterotypic synonyms of the name.

Other recorded details include information about the author and year of publication of the taxon, the protologue publication, and a range of other bibliographic references to the taxon. The Taxonomy module supports hybrids, homonyms, common names, conservation status and description.

Taxa can be recorded at any level, from as broad as Kingdom to as narrow as Subspecies (Zoology) or Form and Variety (Botany). With its support for the complex rules relating to the synonymy of taxa, this module makes it simple to search for a taxonomic concept under any of its names.

You would use the Taxonomy module to:

• Link an organism's record in the Catalogue module to a record of its scientific name (many records in your Catalogue might attach to a single Taxonomy record).
• Record a new scientific name. In this case you would probably link the new Taxonomy record to records of the type specimens in your Catalogue module, citations in the Bibliography module and Author details in the Parties module.