Template:Taxobox/doc

This template sets up a taxobox, a table setting out the Biological classification (taxonomy) for a group of living things with a choice of over 135 parameters. Although the implementation is complicated, it is relatively simple to use. For an example in practice, look at the edit page of killer whale – []. Most parameters are optional, so if a particular entry is not relevant for your case, just leave it out.

This guide has come out of WikiProject Tree of life.

Usage
Colors are automatically assigned based on the table below.

Plant species


Animal species


Plant higher taxon


Animal higher taxon


Name
For plants, see Naming conventions (flora).

For all other living things, the name should be the most common vernacular name when one is in widespread use, and a scientific name otherwise.
 * Common names of higher taxa are always given in sentence case and in the plural (e.g. Marine hatchetfishes).
 * Common names of species and subspecies are sometimes given in title case (e.g. White Wagtail), and sometimes in sentence case (e.g. Colorado potato beetle).

Color
The color is automatically assigned based on the entry for regnum, virus_group. unranked_phylum or phylum, in that order; there is no need to specify it manually. If you do, be sure to use rgb or hsl format; see examples below.

The eukaryote box uses the color "rgb(224, 208, 176)", but since it is split completely into kingdoms other eukaryote groups should not.

Classification
As noted above, the classification section includes some or all of the following:


 * regnum =
 * phylum =
 * classis =
 * ordo =
 * familia =
 * genus =
 * species =

Each entry corresponds to a containing group, except for the last, which should be the group under consideration. Note the entries use the Latin names for the ranks, to make porting between Wikipedias easier. Thus the above correspond to the kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.

Taxoboxes should include all major ranks above the taxon described in the article, plus minor ranks that are important to understanding the classification of the taxon described in the article, or which are discussed in the article. Other minor ranks should be omitted.

For example, in the taxobox for the genus Formica, it's appropriate to include entries for tribe and subfamily, since those are an aid to understanding how Formica relates to other genera in the family Formicidae. But it wouldn't be appropriate to include the superorder Endopterygota, since all genera of ants are in that superorder; it isn't particularly interesting at this level.

Another example is the subfamily Bambusoideae, the bamboos. This subfamily probably should be mentioned in the taxobox of every bamboo species, since it is a major grouping in this context, despite its minor rank.

Minor ranks are included in the same way as major ranks, for example:


 * classis = ...
 * subclassis = ...
 * superordo = ...
 * ordo = ...

Note that species and subspecies should be given using the abbreviated forms of their name — e.g. H. sapiens, H. s. sapiens. The epithets should not be given by themselves. The full form of the species or subspecies name is given in the binomial or trinomial section.

See for a complete list.

Classification status
With the classification_status parameter, it is possible to introduce extra text within parentheses after "Scientific classification". For example, |classification_status=disputed will produce "Scientific classification (disputed)". See Veratalpa for a current example where this parameter is used. This parameter should only be used when the "Scientific classification" text would be misleading without it.

Divisions and sections
These ranks have different meanings in zoology and botany.

In botany:
 * Use divisio for division (a rank above class and below kingdom)
 * Use sectio for section (a rank above species and below genus)

Note: Certain very large genera, e.g. Rhododendron include subsections

In zoology:
 * Use zoodivisio for division (a rank above family and below order)
 * Use zoosectio for section (a rank above family and below order)

Unranked taxa
For each major taxon from family to phylum, you can add an unranked entry to the taxobox. The entry unranked_X appears above rank X, for example unranked_superfamilia appears above family and superfamily and below order, suborder, infraorder, etc:


 * ordo =
 * unranked_superfamilia =
 * familia =

Use unranked taxa sparingly. The need to include unranked taxa generally indicates that you are following phylogenetic nomenclature. It is usually better to abbreviate the classification to the major ranks and then discuss the classification in more detail in the article.

Viruses
Viruses follow a slightly different system. They are not placed in taxa above the rank of order, and instead are treated in seven groups based on the type of nucleic acid they contain, referred to by the Roman numerals I to VII. These can be included in the taxobox using the virus_group argument. This also changes the link from scientific to virus classification, so it should not appear on boxes for non-viruses, even if it is left blank.


 * virus_group = IV

Bold/italic markup
Italicization must be done manually in all parameters. If the entry for genus or species (with manually added italics) matches the page title, then the name of the taxobox and the title of the page will be italicized. Note that the name parameter is used, the page title will not be italicized, and the taxobox's name will be set to exactly what is specified in name – italics must be specified manually in this case.

Genus, species, and subspecies should be italicized whenever used, as is the biological standard. For instance, we talk about the genus Homo, the species Homo sapiens, and the subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens. Higher taxa like families may or may not be italicized in different publications. The prevalent standard for Wikipedia is not to italicize them, except in the case of viruses and other infectious particles.
 * In botany, it is important to include the rank for taxa below species. The rank is not italicized, e.g. Genus species subsp. subspecies var. variety.
 * Some bacteria that have been characterized but not formally named are given Candidatus names. These should be written in the form Candidatus Genus species, rather than italicized normally.

Bolding is used to indicate the subject of the article. The name, binomial, and trinomial arguments bold automatically. In the placement section – regnum through species – the final taxon should be bolded, as well as any higher groups that only include the final taxon. See green sulfur bacteria for an example.

Subdivisions
Groups above the rank of species (and even species if there are several notable subspecies) should usually include a list of subgroups. Use the subdivision argument for the list, separating elements by &lt;br&gt; tags, and the subdivision_ranks argument to say what rank the subgroups have. For instance, for families in an order:

Family1 Family2 Family3
 * subdivision_ranks = Families
 * subdivision =

The templates Template:Species list and Template:Taxon list (and their variants) can help to generate these lists.

For lists with more than a few subgroups, the list can be bracketed with and, which will split the list into two columns (see Nettle example at right). In cases where a list would make the taxobox too long, or where the classification is too variable to allow a brief summary, the list should be replaced with a comment like "See text" or the subdivision section should be omitted. As a rule of thumb, when there are more than 100 subgroups the list should be in a separate article.

In cases where the classification is variable, a description like "Typical orders" or "Notable orders" may be used.

In cases where the ranks are uncertain, a description like "Subgroups" or "Taxa" may be preferable. Sometimes it is convenient to represent more than one level of classification in the list. In that case the lower level groups are moved over to the right by prefixing them with &amp;nbsp; characters – usually three for the first level of indentation, and then one to three more for each subsequent level. Major grades may also be represented by bolded headers, as on plant and heterokont. Remember, though, these should mainly be done when the intermediate rank subgroups are not worthy of separate articles; taxoboxes are too small to include too much duplicate information.

Conservation status
Conservation status may optionally be included; you can search the IUCN's database of threatened species to find the conservation status of many organisms. It is included via the status argument, which takes a code or template. It is not appropriate for prehistoric organisms – the  parameter may be a more sensible option.

| status = code

or

| status = EX | extinct = year

Use the first syntax (with one of the codes below) except for extinct animals when you wish to show the year of extinction. The code may be all upper or lower case, but the cases used in the table are preferred.

The following status codes are available (the third column shows the corresponding template, but this is obsolete and the code is preferred):


 * Notes:
 * Not a valid IUCN Red List category.
 * | status = fossil is deprecated in favour of | fossil_range =</tt> start-</tt>end (see the section below).
 * Use LR/lc or LR/nt or LR/cd instead

Referencing conservation status
To add a reference for the status, use

 | status_ref = </tt>

See IUCN2008, IUCN2007, IUCN2006, or IUCN for the arguments you need to supply to that template. And don't forget that  </tt> requires a corresponding  ).

Type species
When the type species of a genus (or larger grouping) is known, the type_species and type_species_authority can be used. For animal entries, the type species should be the original binomial name of the type species, but linked to its current article, and the authority should be plain (no parenthesis). See Mirza for a type species example.


 * type_species =
 * type_species_authority =

This follows ICZN Recommendation 67B; be aware that this means the taxon used by the genus' original author – even if it is now invalid, e.g. a junior synonym. Ideally, it should only be used if the genus' original description can be verified first-hand. As per the following example given by the ICZN:

"Astacus marinus Fabricius, 1775, one of the nominal species originally included in the decapod crustacean genus Homarus Weber, 1795, was subsequently designated by Fowler (1912) as the type species of Homarus. The type species is, and should be cited as, Astacus marinus Fabricius, 1775. Astacus marinus Fabricius is currently synonymized with Cancer gammarus Linnaeus, 1758, but the latter is not the type species of Homarus and should not be cited as such. If mention of the type species is required it should be made in some such manner as 'Type species Astacus marinus Fabricius, 1775, a junior synonym of Cancer gammarus Linnaeus, 1758'; or 'Type species Astacus marinus Fabricius, 1775, now regarded as a synonym of Homarus gammarus (Linnaeus, 1758)'."

If you do not completely understand what this all means, please do not use this parameter. Instead, if possible denote the type species in the species listing, for example with a

(type species)

after the species' (currently valid) name.

Italic page titles
If the value of genus, species, or binomial exactly matches the title of the page, and name is unspecified, the taxobox and page title will be italicized automatically. If necessary, it is also possible to force the page title to display in italics using the Italic title template.

If the name parameter is present, then the taxobox will display whatever is in name; the page title will NOT be italicized unless italic title is used.

Complete blank template
This section gives all parameters in the order that they will appear in the taxobox. No taxobox should use all of these. Keep it short!

Articles lacking taxoboxes
For articles lacking taxoboxes, add Template:Missing-taxobox to the talk page. This may be done by typing   or    at the top of the talk page.