TaxonomicRankEnum

The following is based on the information contained in the UBIF schema (UBIF_TypeLib.xsd). Please note, that additional discussion material (questions, problems) is separately available at TaxonomicRankDiscussion.

New: Discussion about TaxonomicRankRareRanks! -- 5. Nov. 2004

See UBIF enumeration info for a tabular overview of values.

Enumerated codes to express the rank of a taxon (scientific organism name) in a taxonomic hierarchy. The list is intended to be interoperable between name providers for bacteria, viruses, fungi, plants, and animals. It is not assumed that in each taxonomic group all ranks have to be used. Individual applications may select appropriate subsets (which may be based on information given inside the enumerated values, see Specifications/BioCode-, Botany-, Zoology-, and BacteriaStatus). The enumeration attempts to strike a balance between listing all possible rank terms, and remaining comprehensible. For example, the "infra-" ranks specifically mentioned in BioCode have been included (although very rarely used), but the additional intermediate zoological ranks (micro, nano, pico, etc.) are not included. Whether the selection of infraspecific ranks (some informal ranks, esp. from bacteriology, may be missing!) probably needs some discussion. However, it is believed that this list may help to start developing data sets that can easily be integrated across the barriers of language and taxonomic traditions.

The following publications have been consulted to determine the number of type terms that should be included and to prepare the semantic definitions:

• The Berlin Taxonomic Information Model, MoReTax view (Berendsohn & al., http://www.bgbm.org/scripts/ASP/BGBMModel/Catalogues.asp?Cat=MT
• DiversityTaxonomy model version 0.7 (G. Hagedorn & T. Gräfenhan 2002, http://160.45.63.11/Workbench/Taxonomy/Model/InformationModels.html)
• ABCD version 1.44, types HigherTaxonRankType and RankAbbreviationType, by W. Berendsohn, reviewed by D. Hobern
• TaxCat2 - Database of Botanical Taxonomic Categories by Jörg Ochsmann, IPK Gatersleben; http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/TaxCat2/default.htm

Many thanks for review and help go to Dr. Walter Gams.

Note: the list of all ranks is implemented as a union of all following rank subsets. Note that although BioCode has been used to define the partition into subsets, the ranks are not limited to BioCode but should be an interoperable superset of ranks used in Virology, Bacteriology, Botany and Zoology.

-- Gregor Hagedorn - 20 Jul 2004