Ptilinopus layardi and Chrysoena viridis

[OBinFiji]

GBIF uses _Ptilinopus layardi_DG Elliott 1878 as the Scientific Name for the endemic fruit-dove on Kadavu in Fiji https://www.gbif.org/species/2495560/metrics

IUCN/HBW uses _Chrysoena viridis_Layard 1875 as the Scientific Name for the same species , a fruit dove endemic to Kadavu, Fiji. it is included in GBIF based on a) the IUCN Red List report and b) 7 historical museum specimens https://www.gbif.org/species/8833154/metrics

GBIF provides no link between the species. My colleagues at the Fiji Government Environment Department were surprised that ther were only 7 records of Whistling Dove (C. viridis) and none since 2010 - given the number of records put in. The IUCN Red List is the taxonomy used by Government environment departments.

Within GBIF I am used to seeing multiple scientific names for an individual species which, I have always presumed, shows the various names that have been given to a species as a specimen, etc. So, I would have expected these two datasets to have been merged into one species. Or have I misunderstood the GBIF process.

Cheers

[ManonGros]

@OBinFiji The problem is that in those species aren't synonym in the GBIF taxonomy. If they were, the data would be aggregated under the same page (the page of the accepted name). I forwarded the suggestion to add Chrysoena viridis Layard, 1875 as a synonym of Ptilinopus layardi D.G.Elliot, 1878 to the Catalogue of Life (which is our main source to build the GBIF backbone taxonomy). If the synonymy relationship is specified in the Catalogue of Life, the next GBIF backbone taxonomy update should fix this issue. More information about how we generate the GBIF backbone is available here: https://data-blog.gbif.org/post/gbif-backbone-taxonomy/

[DaveNicolson]

We reconsidered, as we were not planning to update the Columbiformes soon, as we updated the whole thing in Summer 2020, which was unfortunately shortly before we decided to include all the names used as valid in the major world bird sources in ITIS (in synonymy, as appropriate to the IOC taxonomy we are following in ITIS). Rather than making you wait for us to cycle back to update the order again, David M went ahead and worked on the genus, adding synonymy for the 3 species of Chrysoena (if recognized it is generally with 3 spp) under the corresponding species of Ptilinopus, and added the genus Chrysoena as a junior synonym of Ptilinopus. HBW's names for the genus and 3 species will now be properly accounted for in ITIS, per the taxonomy of the IOC's world bird list, and GBIF records entered using species of Chrysoena should soon be linked to the IOC names via ITIS/COL/GBIF. We did not update anything else at this point, as that will have to wait until we work through other bird orders/families before coming back to the Columbiformes.

The update should appear in ITIS once the July load is completed (possibly in late July, possibly in early August, depending on how everyone's vacation time affects it). GBIF should reflect the data after the next import of the new ITIS data, but I don't know precisely what that timing will be.

Here are the names added in synonymy, for reference: Ptilinopus Swainson, 1825 valid Chrysoena Bonaparte, 1854 invalid, junior synonym

Ptilinopus layardi D. G. Elliot, 1878 valid Chrysoena viridis E. L. Layard, 1875 invalid, junior homonym

Ptilinopus luteovirens (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841) valid Columba luteovirens Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841 invalid, original name/combination Chrysoena luteovirens (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841) invalid, subsequent name/combination

Ptilinopus victor (Gould, 1872) valid Chrysoena victor Gould, 1872 invalid, original name/combination

[OBinFiji]

Dave Many, many thanks for this. We've spent quite a bit of time persuading national governments here to take the information available in GBIF seriously - and as a logical starting point for their own Resource Inventories. So, it was quite challenging when the IUCN Red List didn't match with the GBIF taxonomy - its bizarre how government staff always seem to 'pick at' the weaknesses in databases, rather than work with their strengths.

Anyway, this is just another small bit of GBIF that becomes a bit more transparent - which is a good thing.

All the best from paradise (lets hope it stays like this for the weekend).

Mark

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From: DaveNicolson @.> Sent: 15 July 2022 09:56 To: gbif/portal-feedback @.> Cc: Mark O'Brien @.>; Mention @.> Subject: Re: [gbif/portal-feedback] Ptilinopus layardi and Chrysoena viridis (Issue gbif/backbone-feedback#209)

We reconsidered, as we were not planning to update the Columbiformes soon, as we updated the whole thing in Summer 2020, which was unfortunately shortly before we decided to include all the names used as valid in the major world bird sources in ITIS (in synonymy, as appropriate to the IOC taxonomy we are following in ITIS). Rather than making you wait for us to cycle back to update the order again, David M went ahead and worked on the genus, adding synonymy for the 3 species of Chrysoena (if recognized it is generally with 3 spp) under the corresponding species of Ptilinopus, and added the genus Chrysoena as a junior synonym of Ptilinopus. HBW's names for the genus and 3 species will now be properly accounted for in ITIS, per the taxonomy of the IOC's world bird list, and GBIF records entered using species of Chrysoena should soon be linked to the IOC names via ITIS/COL/GBIF. We did not update anything else at this point, as that will have to wait until we work through other bird orders/families before coming back to the Columbiformes.

The update should appear in ITIS once the July load is completed (possibly in late July, possibly in early August, depending on how everyone's vacation time affects it). GBIF should reflect the data after the next import of the new ITIS data, but I don't know precisely what that timing will be.

Here are the names added in synonymy, for reference: Ptilinopus Swainson, 1825 valid Chrysoena Bonaparte, 1854 invalid, junior synonym

Ptilinopus layardi D. G. Elliot, 1878 valid Chrysoena viridis E. L. Layard, 1875 invalid, junior homonym

Ptilinopus luteovirens (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841) valid Columba luteovirens Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841 invalid, original name/combination Chrysoena luteovirens (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841) invalid, subsequent name/combination

Ptilinopus victor (Gould, 1872) valid Chrysoena victor Gould, 1872 invalid, original name/combination

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[DaveNicolson]

This update is in ITIS now, and will presumably appear in COL and GBIF whenever they ingest the new version of ITIS. Here's a link to the names in question: https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=177324#null