gbif/pipelines

scientificName, verbatimScientificName, scientificNameID in GBIF when there is no match to GBIF backbone taxonomy

Opened this issue · 2 comments

ymgan commented

In downloaded occurrence.txt, when a scientificName provided does not have a match on GBIF backbone taxonomy, the interpreted information is inconsistent.

scientificName is replaced, but scientificNameID is the scientificNameID of verbatimScientificName, not scientificName.

Occurrence: https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/3386517573

field provided interpreted by GBIF
scientificName Thecostraca Arthropoda
verbatimScientificName Thecostraca
taxonRank class PHYLUM
scientificNameID urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:22388 urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:22388
timrobertson100 commented

Thanks @ymgan - we should review the other fields as we fix this too to see if they should be nullified

ymgan commented

Thanks for looking into this @timrobertson100 !

I hope that GBIF will consider keeping the scientificNameID somewhere because it is a mandatory field in OBIS where the OBIS nodes deliberately get this field properly populated. When the name does not match/match to the higher rank in the GBIF backbone taxonomy, the scientificNameID still link to WoRMS where the information of the taxon (at its appropriate rank) can be found.

It is a tough challenge to present interpreted information. Thanks a lot!