Template talk:Speciesbox

Fixing speciesbox

Moved from Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) § Fixing speciesbox

 – –Novem Linguae (talk) 14:03, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Hi, it appears that using "taxon" parameter in speciesbox is causing issues with the "scientific classification" section. Specifically it is parsing clades and other nonstandard parent-level taxa and displaying a "missing taxonomy template" message in the box. My workaround is to replace the taxon parameter with separate genus and species parameters on species pages with errors. Could there be a better solution? 108.18.207.147 (talk) 13:43, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Not able to fix this genus taxon page because automatic taxobox does not take a genus parameter: Ameiurus. 108.18.207.147 (talk) 13:53, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

I checked your recent edit history and couldn't find a diff where the speciesbox was broken. Can you please post a WP:DIFF? –Novem Linguae (talk) 14:02, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Hi, I was looking at bullhead catfish, Ameiurus nebulosus, Ameiurus melas, etc. I fixed the speciesbox for Ameiurus natalis, but the error itself will not show now in prior page versions. The genus page, Ameiurus, currently gives me an error message due to the presence of the clade Clupeocephala, but I should not change the parameter on that page due to differences between Automatic taxobox and speciesbox. 108.18.207.147 (talk) 14:16, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Diff: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yellow_bullhead&diff=prev&oldid=1163368391 108.18.207.147 (talk) 14:17, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for the diff. The |taxon= version and the |genus= |species= version of the speciesbox look identical to me. Can you elaborate a bit further on what you think is broken? –Novem Linguae (talk) 14:20, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

I think something is wrong with rank "clade" because it is not in the typical hierarchy (Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species), but I am not exactly sure. 108.18.207.147 (talk) 14:28, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Looks like taxon parameter had an unusual space character. I delete the space and replaced it with a plain one. The module splits the taxon name on the space to get the genus and species. So it was look for a taxonomy template with the name "Ameiurus#nebulosus" where is some sort of space. —  Jts1882 | talk  14:54, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

No that was not the problem. My edits don't show up in the edit history so were treated as null edits and that was what fixed them. I also fixed White bullhead with a null edit. I assume it some to do with the parent in the taxonomy template for {{taxonomy/Otocephala}} being changed to Clupeocphala yesterday and a caching problem. A null edit or any other edit (e.g. changing taxon to genus + species) should fix the issue. —  Jts1882 | talk  15:05, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

It appears that this edit of {{taxonomy/Otocephala}} at 15:57 on 3 July 2023, changing the |parent= from "Otocephala" to "Clupeocephala", created the error. The template {{taxonomy/Clupeocephala}} did not exist at the time and that was why there was a fix error message on the Clupeocephala line of the taxonomy hierarchy in the taxobox. The template was created three minutes later at 16.00 on 3 July (see history). Bizarrely the first edit propagated in those three minutes so it showed up as an error in the live taxoboxes and persisted even though the required template had been created. I suppose there was no way for the template creation to be associated with those pages that needed it because it had never been used there before. It needed an edit on the page after the template had been created to trigger the propagation of template/module changes. —  Jts1882 | talk  07:46, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

Banding codes for birds?

I wanted to suggest a potential addition to the speciesbox for bird species, the banding code. These are standardized 4 or 6-letter abbreviations of bird names used for brevity in checklists and database entry (4-letter based on the common name, e.g. MODO for MOurning DOve, 6-letter based on the binomial name, e.g. ZENMAC for Zenaida macroura) based on the common name. For many they are self evident, but for others there is ambiguity (should Great Blue Heron be GBHE? GRBH?) or conflict (Canada Goose, for example, is CANG, rather than CAGO, as CAGO conflicts with Cackling Goose). I think it would be useful for birders to be able to quickly reference these codes in the speciesbox. Gvbox (talk) 22:58, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

With two standards (BBL & IBP) and limited geographic applicability (North & Central America), I'm not sure these abbreviations should be incorporated into speciesboxes. If somebody is interested in these, in what direction would they be likely to search? 1) From the full name of the bird to find the abbreviation, or 2) from the abbreviation to find the full name of the bird? I would guess it's 1, but if it's 2, creating redirects for the abbreviations might be appropriate. iNaturalist lists abbreviations as common names in the "language" "Aou 4 Letter Codes"; does AOU follow BBL or IBP? WT:BIRDS might be a better place to discuss presenting the abbreviations in articles. Plantdrew (talk) 01:53, 26 July 2023 (UTC)

The {{taxonbar}} might be a better location if the codes were available on Wikidata. I can't find the AMBBP/BBL or IBP codes on Wikidata, so they would need to be added. The EURING number (P3459) is already available and that seems a similar thing. It might also be possible to allow it as a manual parameter in the taxonbar, although these seem to be discouraged. —  Jts1882 | talk  09:58, 26 July 2023 (UTC)

Error tracking when genus parameter (or first word in taxon parameter) isn't a genus?

At Peracle reticulata, the family Peraclidae had been put in |genus=. A taxobox displayed, but with no genus and the binomial displaying as Peraclidae reticulata. It seems like this is something that should go in an error tracking category. Plantdrew (talk) 20:28, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

Not Evaluated

Is there a reason that 'Not Evaluated' appears differently from other statuses? It's the only one I've seen that is spelled in italics and does not link to its corresponding article. – Primium (talk) 15:50, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

Never noticed that before, but I assume it is to distinguish it from an actual conservation status. 'Not recognised' is also italicised and 'Invalid status' is in italics and bold. Why is it not linked? Possibly it was considered self-explanatory when the templates were written and no one added link when the article was created. —  Jts1882 | talk  16:13, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

@Primium: I've linked the article and removed the italics for consistency, as the IUCN do list it as a category.

I'll add that I'm not sure of the value of showing this in the taxobox. 'Not recognised' (see Southern giraffe) has even less value. In contrast Data deficient does provide some information. —  Jts1882 | talk  16:48, 6 May 2024 (UTC)