Biodiversity Information Science and Standards :
Conference Abstract
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Corresponding author: Holly Little (littleh@si.edu)
Received: 02 Sep 2022 | Published: 07 Sep 2022
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication.
Citation:
Little H, Byrd C, Karim T, Krimmel E, Norton B (2022) Extinct Taxa in an Extant World: Working towards better fossil taxonomic representation. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 6: e94417. https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.6.94417
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Paleontology collections face many similar challenges mobilizing taxonomic data as extant collections disciplines: from complex nomenclatural histories to incomplete taxonomic authorities to questionable specimen identifications. These challenges exist within the information management of an individual institution and are amplified at the level of data aggregation, where a minor misspelling of authorship or a historic name can completely erase the discoverability of a specimen. In addition to those challenges shared with extant taxonomy, fossil taxonomy must also address uncertainty in far more detail and at many levels. It may be impossible to assign a name into the traditional Linnaean hierarchy or to provide classification at higher ranks due to uncertainty in our understanding of how the specimen is related to other known taxa. Moreover, some branches of paleontology prefer not to use Linnaean ranks at all, making it even more difficult to map concepts and/or clade names to terms in the Linnaean-based Darwin Core standard (DwC,
The paleontology collections community has been facilitating efforts to address these challenges for many years in an attempt to improve the quality of our data and the treatment of taxonomic information for fossil specimens by aggregators. Most recently, the Paleo Data Working Group has been focusing on the practical matters of digitizing, mobilizing, and promoting the use of specimen data from our collections, and further assessing possible community-sourced solutions that could increase the discoverability of our specimens from a taxonomic entry point.
In this talk, we share our explorations into the past and current state of fossil taxonomy in the global landscape (including notable gaps) and its use in paleontology collections, and we also report on possible paths forward. Understanding some of the historical issues with fossil taxonomy in the global landscape has led to a better understanding of root differences between extant and fossil taxonomic data models. The Paleo Data Working Group (
Accurately representing extinct taxa in an extant world is a moving target, affected by constantly evolving data standards and technical capacity. For instance, GBIF is moving to an operational model where Catalogue of Life provides the taxonomic backbone, but fossil names are problematic in Catalogue of Life because they cannot always integrate into the single tree of life perspective. Seeking solutions that are inclusive of fossil taxonomy will enable our global corpus of biodiversity data to extend back into deep time and promote new opportunities for synergy and cooperation.
fossil taxonomy, paleobiology, Catalogue of Life, GBIF backbone taxonomy
Holly Little
TDWG 2022