IRMNG – The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera
Tony Rees
Abstract
IRMNG, the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera (www.obis.org.au/irmng/), is an initiative of OBIS Australia implemented at CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Marine and Atmospheric Research, Australia (CMAR), which aims to provide a machine-addressable system that will discriminate marine from nonmarine, and extant from fossil taxa in species lists, either on the basis of their genus alone, or (if required) by the full species binomen. To enable this, a database of as many genus names as possible (with associated species names as readily available) has been compiled at CMAR, with all names embedded in a “provisional” or working taxonomic hierarchy, with the facility to mark up (“flag”) families, genera, or individual species with their relevant characteristics – either marine, nonmarine, or both (where “marine” also includes brackish water species), and either extant, fossil, or both.
This project presents interesting challenges in two areas: first, assembly of a sufficiently comprehensive reference database (which could be viewed as an expanded “Catalogue of Life” with particular emphasis at genus level and above, also including extinct organisms), and second, application of the relevant habitat and extant flags in as efficient a manner as possible. The present (version 1) IRMNG database has been assembled as a merger of information from over 40 printed and electronic sources, and currently includes some 220,000 genus names and more than 1.4 million species (with hybrids and infraspecies currently excluded). With the addition of data not yet loaded, IRMNG version 1.1 is likely to include significantly more names, with the aim of over 90% complete coverage at genus level.
Application of the relevant habitat and extant flags is implemented as a hierarchical approach, in that flags are applied at as high a level as possible in the taxonomic hierarchy, with all child taxa inheriting flags from their parent taxon wherever the latter are flagged unambiguously: marine or nonmarine, extant or fossil, e.g., all echinoderms are marine, all dinosaurs are fossil, most insects are nonmarine, etc. By this means, the task of applying flags at an individual genus or species level is considerably reduced. In addition, reasonably comprehensive (although in some aspects dated) family-level treatments, for example Parker’s “Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms” (1982) and Benton’s “The Fossil Record 2” (1993), are followed as far as available. Flagging then needs to proceed to the genus level and below only where a particular family has an ambiguous habitat or extant flag (i.e. both permitted states present).
Mechanisms for the further ongoing development and population of IRMNG, potentially in collaboration with similar or overlapping projects elsewhere, are appropriate topics for discussion.
Acknowledgments: Creation of the initial genus-level coverage of IRMNG was assisted considerably by the re-use of data generously made available by original custodians Sheila Brands (Netherlands) and Ellen Farr (U.S.A.), from the Systema Naturae 2000 and Index Nominum Genericorum compilations, respectively. OBIS Australia contributed financially to the compilation of habitat and extant flags for several key groups. I also thank numerous other contributors of individual taxonomic data compilations that have been used as input to IRMNG, as listed on the IRMNG website.
This project presents interesting challenges in two areas: first, assembly of a sufficiently comprehensive reference database (which could be viewed as an expanded “Catalogue of Life” with particular emphasis at genus level and above, also including extinct organisms), and second, application of the relevant habitat and extant flags in as efficient a manner as possible. The present (version 1) IRMNG database has been assembled as a merger of information from over 40 printed and electronic sources, and currently includes some 220,000 genus names and more than 1.4 million species (with hybrids and infraspecies currently excluded). With the addition of data not yet loaded, IRMNG version 1.1 is likely to include significantly more names, with the aim of over 90% complete coverage at genus level.
Application of the relevant habitat and extant flags is implemented as a hierarchical approach, in that flags are applied at as high a level as possible in the taxonomic hierarchy, with all child taxa inheriting flags from their parent taxon wherever the latter are flagged unambiguously: marine or nonmarine, extant or fossil, e.g., all echinoderms are marine, all dinosaurs are fossil, most insects are nonmarine, etc. By this means, the task of applying flags at an individual genus or species level is considerably reduced. In addition, reasonably comprehensive (although in some aspects dated) family-level treatments, for example Parker’s “Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms” (1982) and Benton’s “The Fossil Record 2” (1993), are followed as far as available. Flagging then needs to proceed to the genus level and below only where a particular family has an ambiguous habitat or extant flag (i.e. both permitted states present).
Mechanisms for the further ongoing development and population of IRMNG, potentially in collaboration with similar or overlapping projects elsewhere, are appropriate topics for discussion.
Acknowledgments: Creation of the initial genus-level coverage of IRMNG was assisted considerably by the re-use of data generously made available by original custodians Sheila Brands (Netherlands) and Ellen Farr (U.S.A.), from the Systema Naturae 2000 and Index Nominum Genericorum compilations, respectively. OBIS Australia contributed financially to the compilation of habitat and extant flags for several key groups. I also thank numerous other contributors of individual taxonomic data compilations that have been used as input to IRMNG, as listed on the IRMNG website.