Zoobank - scientificNameAuthorship empty values filled with the string: <Unspecified Agent>

[camiplata]

dwc:scientificNameAuthorship has empty values as: "< Unspecified Agent >", 46902 records (11%) are affected by it, 43299 genus, 173 species, 1 subspecies.

See: https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/2037/taxon/bbb21db2-66ac-47ea-836f-805854c026d8

[mdoering]

There are also many copies of the same names, e.g. Doradidae: https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/2037/name/e47fc3b7-d540-4b5a-b1ec-03680f259d42

[mdoering]

@deepreef any chance to remove the unspecified agent from the export? There are also other bad names that use [none] or odd accordingTo values like sensu 1999.… 1999:

• tobedeleted
• tobedeleted , 1999
• Scelotes tobedeleted , 1999
• tobedeleted1 , 1999
• Microdus (Therophilus) (delete) , 1999
• Euchromia (grp. tobedeleted) , 1999
• tobedeleted4 Wiegmann, 1828
• delete , 1999 [none] 1999 sensu 1999.… 1999
• delete exaratus [DELETE] [none], 1999 sec. [none]
• [Genus?] delete [[none], 1999] sec. [none]
• delete exaratus , 1999 [none] 1999 sensu 1999.… 1999
• delete exaratus [DELETE] [none], 1999 sec. [none]

[mdoering]

see also https://github.com/CatalogueOfLife/xcol/issues/34 and https://github.com/CatalogueOfLife/xcol/issues/32

[deepreef]

Many thanks for pointing these out. There is a LOT of clean-up we need to do, and that will be included in the grant proposal later this year. But if there are particularly problematic records, like the ones above, I can probably set aside some time next weekend to clean them up.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by removing the Unspecified Agent from the export -- do you mean in terms of that agent as an author of exported publications?

[camiplata]

yes @deepreef, we mean to remove Unspecified Agent as an author to avoid combinations such as:

[deepreef]

OK, I can change the way the author is presented when not known. This is a tag we use to indicate that we have not tracked down the original publication. But if it would be better to present a Null value in the output, I can certainly do that.

[camiplata]

Dear @deepreef, we would like to know if it is possible to remove the placeholder in the Authorship in the next version of Zoobank dataset. If needed we can provide assistance with these changes.

[deepreef]

Yes! But... we're still in the process of migrating our web server to a much more robust infrastructure. This was supposed to have been completed last year, but there have been delays. The IPT needs to be re-established on the server that currently holds the live database. It's on the to-do list, but not sure exactly when it will happen. I will make sure the " is removed from Authorship in the next IPT export -- just not sure when that will happen.

[camiplata]

Thanks for your reply @deepreef. All the best for the migration