Apologies for cross posting... Here is a message I also sent a couple of days ago to the TAXACOM mailing list, I thought it might be of interest to ecological persons too. -------------------- Dear list persons,
I thought I might let you know of a useful new feature added today to my biodiversity database "IRMNG" (see http://www.obis.org.au/irmng/): real-time spelling correction of multiple supplied species names (previously this feature was only activated on single supplied names for performance reasons, to avoid potentially lengthy delays, now worked around). Here's how to use it: - Take a list of species names including potentially misspelled ones (can also have authorities appended too as available), one per line, max. around 1,500-2,000 at a time depending on word length. ** Here is an example small set of real world marine species data I am currently working on for a user in my agency, from a field survey list, excluding names which already have an exact match in the main IRMNG list): Acanthophora glomerata Acrosterigma vlamigi Aeverrillia pilosa Alcospira rosea Alliodoris hedley Anadara articulata Ancilla cingulata Angula sphaeruia Anquipecten aurantiacus Arca avellana_MTQ Arca avellana_QMS Arcania foleolata Ashtoret planipes Australium tentoriformis Austrolabidia gracilipes Beania spinulosa Biflustra limosa Botryocladia skottsbergi Bufonia margaritula Bugula johnsoni Bursa thersites Calliostoma monile Callyspongia schultzi Cancilla fillaris Caulerpa urvilliana (and so on) - Go to the IRMNG data access page at http://www.cmar.csiro.au/datacentre/irmng/, copy-and-paste the list into the search box - Press "check species names" Look for "Species names not found" at the bottom (obviously, names found will be resolved first, however in this case there are none). After each name not found there will be information about whether at least the genus name is held in that form (for something, may not be the intended target of course) then either the nearest matching species name or names, or a "no match" message at species level. Click on any near match name to get the full taxonomic hierarchy, synonym status where known, and other information as presently held in the database. For the record IRMNG draws heavily on other "names aggregator" activities including Catalogue of Life (only 2006 version as yet), WoRMS (World register of Marine Species) and more - eventually also to include names from The Plant List when that data is re-usable as advised recently on their site. I hope at least some on this list may find this feature useful in your work and I am very happy for you to recommend the site to others as appropriate. Regards - Tony Dr Tony Rees Manager | Divisional Data Centre Marine and Atmospheric Research CSIRO E Tony [email protected] T +61 3 6232 5318 CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia www.cmar.csiro.au/datacentre Manager, OBIS Australia regional Node, http://www.obis.au LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/tony-rees/18/770/36
