Wikipedia:Automated taxobox system/advanced taxonomy

Sometimes, taxonomy is not as simple as we might like, so taxonomy templates need to handle more unusual features and a taxobox needs to contain more information than just ranks and taxon names. Some advanced cases are described here. Do ask at Wikipedia talk:Automated taxobox system if you need more information.

Taxon variants
Sometimes it is desirable to have slightly different taxonomy templates for what is fundamentally the same taxon – "taxon variants". The convention in these cases is to use put "/variant-identifier" after the name of the taxon: for example, Template:Taxonomy/Corallinaceae and Template:Taxonomy/Corallinaceae/stem-group. The "taxon variant" identified by the "/variant-identifier" can pick up most of its data by using the  parameter. Thus Template:Taxonomy/Corallinaceae/stem-group has Corallinaceae.

Conventional values for "/variant-identifier" include:
 * "/stem-group" and "/total-group"; both should be hyphenated. These would have stem group and total group respectively. Example – Template:Taxonomy/Chelicerata/stem-group.
 * "/skip" – used when it is necessary to skip to a higher level in the taxonomic hierarchy. Example Template:Taxonomy/Avialae/skip; here  is set to skip Class Reptilia to avoid bird taxonomies showing both this class and Class Aves. See.
 * "/?" – used when it is not certain that this is the correct taxon. The link text will automatically have " (?)" after the taxon name. Example – Template:Taxonomy/Graptolithina/?. See.
 * "/displayed" – used when it is appropriate to show an ancestor taxon only for a certain group of its descendant taxa, while picking up all other parameter values from the "plain" taxonomy template for the same taxon. The variant taxon has yes while using  for all the other parameters.
 * "/taxon" – used of necessity for all taxonomy templates with titles like "Template:Taxonomy/Incertae sedis/taxon", since there isn't a single "incertae sedis" taxon. See #Incertae sedis taxonomy templates.

Skip taxonomy templates
A "skip taxonomy template" has the same title as a normal taxonomy template, but with "/skip" added to the end. Internally the skip taxonomy template at "Template:Taxonomy/taxon-name/skip" is coded like this:

This says that taxon-name/skip has the same values of rank, extinction status, etc. as taxon-name, except that its parent is parent-taxon-name, which will be higher up the taxonomic hierarchy. (When creating a skip taxonomy template, it can be prefilled if you use the correct page naming convention.)

To use a skip taxonomy template, the taxonomy template at the level below it must have parent-taxon-name/skip.

See Template:Taxonomy/Ornithurae/skip as an example. Note the ".....    ....." lines in the right-hand table that show where levels have been skipped, and the information at the bottom of the left-hand table.

To link an automatic taxobox to a skip taxonomy template, put taxon-name/skip in the taxobox template in the article.

Questionable assignments
In the example, Pambdelurion might belong to the family Anomalocarididae: but this is questionable, so in the taxobox, the family should be shown with "(?)" following it. Template:Taxonomy/Pambdelurion has Anomalocarididae/?. Then Template:Taxonomy/Anomalocarididae/? uses Anomalocaridae to pick up the relevant information.

If a template of the form "Template:Taxonomy/taxon/?" does not yet exist, a link will walk you through how to create it.

Category:Taxonomy templates with query shows taxonomy templates with questionable assignments.

As from January 2017, the minimum content of an /? taxonomy template is of the form: where same_as is set to the taxon that is questionable. The "(?)" is added automatically by the automated taxobox system, based on the "/?" in the title of the taxonomy template.

Questionable assignment (two levels)
In the example, Tortilicaulis probably belongs to the class Horneophytopsida within the clade Polysporangiophyta, but cannot be assigned to either with certainty. To indicate this, Template:Taxonomy/Tortilicaulis has Horneophytopsida/?/?. Template:Taxonomy/Horneophytopsida/?/? in turn has Polysporangiophyta/?, making use of Template:Taxonomy/Polysporangiophyta/?.

If a template of the form "Template:Taxonomy/taxon/?/?" does not yet exist, a link will walk you through how to create it. The minimum content of a /?/? taxonomy template is of the form: where same_as is set to the taxon that is questionable; its parent in turn is set to the expected parent with "/?" added.

This process can be continued indefinitely. A taxonomy template with N repeats of "/?" at the end of its title should have its parent set to a taxon name followed by N-1 repeats of "/?". , there is no automated support for creating such templates beyond N = 2.

Incertae sedis taxonomy templates
In the example, Grayenulla is placed in Salticinae, but its relationship to other jumping spiders – and in particular the tribe that it should be placed in – is unknown. To use the technical term, it is incertae sedis. Therefore, at Template:Taxonomy/Grayenulla, we set Incertae sedis/Salticinae. There must then be Template:Taxonomy/Incertae sedis/Salticinae.

If a template with a name of the form "Template:Taxonomy/Incertae sedis/taxon" does not yet exist, a link will walk you through how to create it.

, the minimum content of an incertae sedis taxonomy template is of the form: (The appropriate value for link will be set by default if the 'taxon' name starts with "Incertae sedis".)

For an example of two levels of uncertain placement, see Template:Taxonomy/Xerochlorella.