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COL Data Package (ColDP) Specification

The recommended exchange format for data to and from COL ChecklistBank is a tabular text format with a fixed set of files and columns.

Status & Versioning

Latest Stable Release

Version 1.1 of ColDP has been released on September 26th 2024.

Development Branch

Version 1.2 of ColDP is still under development and new fields are marked as such in the documentation below.

There is no guarantee that these fields might still change until the version is released. ChecklistBank tries it's best to support already all new features, so it can be used already.

Versioning

ColDP adheres to semantic versioning:

  • patch changes (1.0.x) do not alter the exchange schema at all. No more fields or entities will be renamed, removed or added. The documentation and enumeration of values are allowed to change.
  • minor changes (1.x.0) preserve backwards compatibility. Fields or entities can be added, but not renamed or removed.
  • major changes (x.0.0) break backwards compatibility. Fields or entities can be renamed, removed, added or changed in semantics.

History

All changes are documented since the initial 1.0.0 release.

Schema

The ColDP format is a single ZIP archive that bundles various delimited text files described below together with a metadata.yaml file providing basic metadata about the entire dataset. Each file holds records for the same class of things shown in this diagram with columns explained in more detail in the Data File section. It aligns closely to the Frictionless Tabular Data Package for which we provide a descriptor.

schema

For simpler sharing ColDP also offers a merged NameUsage entity, which combines fields from the Taxon, Synonym and Name entity:

NameUsage schema

Archive Files

A ColDP archive consists of several files in a folder. These are either data files corresponding to the schema diagram above:

or the following:

Data Files

The filename for an entity in the above diagram is a case insensitive version of the class name, any number of ignored hyphens or underscores and a known tabular text suffix. The suffix specifies one of the two supported tabular flavours, comma separated or tab separated files:

  • csv: a comma separated, optionally quoted CSV file as per RFC 4180
  • tsv, tab or txt: indicates a tab separated file without quoting

Valid examples are Taxon.tsv or vernacular-name.csv tsv files are simpler to produce and handle, so if you have the option we recommend tsv over csv.

Quoting and Escaping

tsv files do not have any quoting of values, i.e. values are represented as they are. There are just 2 characters that are special and one needs to escape to not break the format: \t tabs and \n new lines. As they are hardly ever important in ColDP data (they most often are dirty data) the simplest solution is to just replace them with an ordinary space if they appear in any value.

Otherwise tsv offers escaping \t, \n, \r and \ itself using the backslash \ if you really want to keep these characters in your values.

csv files use a comma as the delimiter which often also appears in values. The optional quoting of values using double quotes " at the beginning and end of the value allows to safely use a comma without escaping it. E.g. 1234,"Miller, 1887" are 2 columns. That pushes the problem to the double quote symbol which then has to be escaped inside quoted values by doubling it, e.g. 1234,"Frederic ""The Great"", 1887". Here are the important rules from the RFC 4180 specification

  1. Within the header and each record, there may be one or more fields, separated by commas. Each line should contain the same number of fields throughout the file. Spaces are considered part of a field and should not be ignored. The last field in the record must not be followed by a comma. For example:
   ```
   aaa,bbb,ccc
   ```
  1. Each field may or may not be enclosed in double quotes (however some programs, such as Microsoft Excel, do not use double quotes at all). If fields are not enclosed with double quotes, then double quotes may not appear inside the fields. For example:
   ```
   "aaa","bbb","ccc" CRLF
   zzz,yyy,xxx
   ```
  1. Fields containing line breaks (CRLF), double quotes, and commas should be enclosed in double-quotes. For example:
   ```
   "aaa","b CRLF
   bb","ccc" CRLF
   zzz,yyy,xxx
   ```
  1. If double-quotes are used to enclose fields, then a double-quote appearing inside a field must be escaped by preceding it with another double quote. For example:
   ```
   "aaa","b""bb","ccc"
   ```

Character Encoding

All files must be encoded in UTF-8.

Default Values

added in v1.1

In some cases it is useful to declare a fixed, global value that applies to every record in the dataset, for example if all taxa are animals it makes sense to declare Name.code=zoological only once. This can be done in a single file default.yaml that provides default values for all terms. Term are organised under their entity/class name in the file.

Example of a default.yaml file:

Name:
  code: zoological
Taxon:
  extinct: false
  environment: marine
  kingdom: Animalia

If the term is defined in the actual data, default values will only apply in case the value is null. E.g. it can be used to have a default code value, but override it for exceptional records. This is similar to the default feature in the meta.xml file of DwC archives.

Metadata

A YAML file called metadata.yaml with metadata about the entire data package should be included. The file consists mostly of key value pairs like title, see the comments in metadata.yaml for all available keys. There is also a JSON schema available for validation.

An exception are the contact and authors and editors properties which takes a compound person object and the organisations list which takes a structured organisation object. See yaml example for all available fields. Additional entries to the YAML file are allowed to express non standard properties.

Note that there is no single preformatted citation string, but instead the structured metadata itself is the citation which can be formatted according to various styles like APA which is the default style in checklistbank.org. For citations please pay special attention to the core fields title, creator, editor, publisher & issued.

Changes

To document past versions and changes in data it is recommended to include a dedicated changelog markdown file named CHANGES.md. See https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/ for best practices.

Raw Source Data

In many cases it is desirable to also include the raw source data files like PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, database dumps, XML files or any other custom or binary files inside the archive. This allows users interested in details not captured by ColDP to access them, but also improves transparency and increases trust.

ColDP recommends to use a special raw folder to hold all the original source files. Please always consider the resulting total archive size and consider the inclusion of very large raw files if the total archive size exceeds 1GB.

Data File Columns

All data files should contain a header row that specifies the name of the columns as given below. In the absence of a header row it is expected that all columns exist in the exact order given below. With headers given it is allowed to share additional columns which are not part of the standard as listed below.

Name

Names can be shared in a structured way using various fields, but rank, scientificName and authorship alone are sufficient. See for examples and rationales.

A structured scientificName can be given using the following fields:

An authorship of a name can be structured with:

or can make use of the Author entity and define authorships purely by using identifiers:

ID

Unique name identifier that is referred to elsewhere via nameID.

alternativeID

A comma concatenated list of alternative identifiers for the name. Every alternative identifier must be a URI/URN/URL or given in the form of scope:id. See identifiers for all details and common scopes.

added in v1.1

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

basionymID

Identifier of the name which is the original combination of this name. Also known as the basionym. Contrary to the strict basionym definition it is acceptable to populate this field also for original names which should point to itself. A basionym is a terminal relationship which cannot be "chained". The original name itself should not have another basionym relation to another name. When the basionym was established as a nomen novum to replace another name, e.g. a homonym, it should not use basionymID to refer to the replaced name (which has an entirely different epithet), but use the NameRelation with type=replacement name instead.

Note there is an alternative way to share the information about an original name by using a NameRelation with type=basionym. The field basionymID exists for simplicity and because it is an important information to be shared.

scientificName

Required scientific name excluding the authorship

authorship

Authorship of the scientificName

rank

type: rank enum

The rank of the name preferably given in case insensitive english. The recommended vocabulary is included in rank_enum.

uninomial

The single-word name of generic or higher rank names.

genus

The genus part of a bi/trinomial. Note that for generic names the uninomial field should be used, not genus!

infragenericEpithet

The infrageneric epithet. Used as the terminal epithet for names at infrageneric ranks and optionally also for bi/trinomials In zoological names often the subgenus.

specificEpithet

The specific epithet in case of bi/trinomials.

infraspecificEpithet

The infraspecific epithet in case of bi/trinomials.

cultivarEpithet

The name of the cultivar for name governed by the cultivar code.

notho

For named hybrids the part of the name which is considered a hybrid and which usually is prefixed with the hybrid marker ×. One of:

  • generic
  • infrageneric
  • specific
  • infraspecific

type: namePart enum

added in v1.1

combinationAuthorship

The authorteam of the main authorship for the exact combination (not the original combination). Multiple authors should be concatenated with a pipe | symbol.

added in v1.1

combinationAuthorshipID

A list of identifiers for authors of the exact combination (not the original combination). Multiple author identifiers should be concatenated with a pipe | symbol. If combinationAuthorship is given, the order and number of author names and identifiers must always match up. Author identifiers must refer to an existing Author.ID within this data package.

added in v1.1

combinationExAuthorship

The ex-authors part of the main authorship for the very combination (not the original combination). The ex prefix as normally found in the authorship should not be included here. Multiple authors should be concatenated with a pipe | symbol.

added in v1.1

combinationExAuthorshipID

A list of identifiers for ex-authors of the exact combination (not the original combination). Multiple author identifiers should be concatenated with a pipe | symbol. If combinationExAuthorship is given, the order and number of author names and identifiers must always match up. Author identifiers must refer to an existing Author.ID within this data package.

added in v1.1

combinationAuthorshipYear

The year given in the authorship for the very combination (not the original combination), given without brackets.

added in v1.1

basionymAuthorship

The authorteam of the original name normally found in brackets, but given here without brackets. Multiple authors should be concatenated with a pipe | symbol.

added in v1.1

basionymAuthorshipID

A list of identifiers for authors of the original combination (basionym) normally found in brackets. Multiple author identifiers should be concatenated with a pipe | symbol. If basionymAuthorship is given, the order and number of author names and identifiers must always match up. Author identifiers must refer to an existing Author.ID within this data package.

added in v1.1

basionymExAuthorship

The ex-authors of the original name normally found in brackets, but given here without brackets. The ex prefix as normally found in the authorship should not be included here. Multiple authors should be concatenated with a pipe | symbol.

added in v1.1

basionymExAuthorshipID

A list of identifiers for ex-authors of the original combination (basionym) normally found in brackets. Multiple author identifiers should be concatenated with a pipe | symbol. If basionymExAuthorship is given, the order and number of author names and identifiers must always match up. Author identifiers must refer to an existing Author.ID within this data package.

added in v1.1

basionymAuthorshipYear

The year given in the authorship for the original combination normally found in brackets, but given here without brackets.

added in v1.1

code

type: code enum

The nomenclatural code the name falls under.

status

type: nomStatus enum

The broad nomenclatural status of the name. For the exact status note, e.g. nomen nudum, the remarks field should additionally be used Alternatively a URI or simple name from a class of the NOMEN ontology can be used.

referenceID

A pointer to a Reference that is the publication in which the scientificName was originally established under the rules of the associated nomenclatural code.

publishedInYear

The effective year the name was published, given as a 4 digit integer. It is the year that is nomenclaturally relevant for the given combination. In most cases this will be the same as the publication year given in the linked reference record via referenceID. But in some cases this might be different.

publishedInPage

The exact single page number where the name was published. If the description spans multiple pages, the first page should be given.

publishedInPageLink

A URL to the exact page where the name was published. If the description spans multiple pages, the link to the first page should be given.

gender

type: gender enum

Gender of the name, i.e. the genus in case of bi/trinomials. Values for the gender field should be one of masculine, feminine or neuter.

added in v1.1

genderAgreement

type: boolean

Flag that indicates for bi/trinomials whether the (infra)species epithet must follow and agree with the gender of the genus.

added in v1.1

originalSpelling

type: boolean

Flag indicating that the name is given in it's original spelling when an emendation exists. Only use the flag if there is a known correction existing. The originalSpelling is usually indicated by placing [sic] after the name.

A originalSpelling=false flag instead is indicating that the name is a corrected spelling, usually indicated by placing corrig. after the name.

In most cases when it is unknown or the original spelling was never revised leave this flag empty.

added in v1.1

etymology

Etymology of the name, i.e. the origin or meaning of the words forming the scientific name. Should be a short human readable paragraph.

added in v1.1

link

A link to a webpage provided by the source depicting the name.

remarks

Additional nomenclatural remarks about the name. Often indicating its status or relevant rules in the code.

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

Author

Normalised and structured authors that can be referred to by names, references and taxon scrutinizers. All entities also allow to specify a modifedBy field which must reference an Author identifier here.

added in v1.1

ID

Unique identifier for the author / person. Can be referenced from any modifiedBy field.

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

alternativeID

A comma concatenated list of alternative identifiers for the author. Every alternative identifier must be in the form of scope:id. See identifiers for all details and common scopes. Recommended identifier scopes for authors are orcid, ipni, wikidata & viaf.

given

List of given names, concatenated by a comma.

family

The family name including any leading particles if existing.

suffix

Optional suffix to distinguish persons with identical surnames. In well known cases of father and son, the son should be distinguished by ‘f.’ or ‘filius’ in the suffix.

abbreviationBotany

Standard form (official abbreviation) of the persons name for use in a botanical author citation.

alternativeNames

A | separated list of alternative names this person is known under.

sex

Biological sex of the person.

country

Country of citizenship. Preferably as ISO code. If multiple concatenated by a comma.

birth

Date of birth, given as an ISO date string.

birthPlace

Location the person was born at.

death

Date of death, given as an ISO date string.

affiliation

Institution(s) the author is affiliated with.

interest

List of taxonomic groups the person has worked on.

referenceID

List of sources where the information was taken from or further information can be found about the author.

link

A link to a webpage provided by the source depicting the author.

remarks

Remarks about the person.

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

NameRelation

A directed nomenclatural name relation. See #name-relations for examples and definitions.

nameID

The subject name this relation originates from. Refers to an existing Name.ID or NameUsage.ID within this data package.

relatedNameID

The object name this relation relates to. Refers to an existing Name.ID or NameUsage.ID within this data package.

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

type

type: enum

The kind of directed nomenclatural relation.

referenceID

The reference or nomenclatural act where this nomenclatural relation was established.

page

The exact single page number where the nomenclatural relation was published in the linked reference. If the value spans multiple pages, the first page should be given.

added in v1.1

remarks

Remarks about the relation.

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

TypeMaterial

Type material designated to names. Type material should only be associated with the original name, not with a recombination.

ID

Optional unique identifier for the specimen. If possible use the existing specimen identifier, e.g. the collection/institution code and catalogue number. If coming from a Darwin Core world dwc:occurrenceID is a great fit.

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

nameID

Pointer to the typified name referring to an existing Name.ID within this data package. Type material should only be associated with an original name, not with recombinations.

citation

Material citation of the type material, i.e. type specimen. The citation is ideally given in the verbatim form as it was used in the original publication of the name or the subsequent designation. Otherwise it is recommended to follow the material citation guidelines published by European Journal of Taxonomy. If atomized fields below are given a citation is not needed. Otherwise it is required.

status

type: type status enum The status of the type material, e.g. holotype

referenceID

A referenceID pointing to the Reference table indicating the publication of the type designation. Most often this is equivalent to the original names referenceID, but for subsequent designations a later reference should be cited.

page

The exact single page number where the type designation was published in the linked reference. If the value spans multiple pages, the first page should be given.

added in v1.1

locality

The type locality. Ideally from largest area to smallest.

country

The country of the type locality. Preferably as ISO codes.

latitude

Decimal latitude of the type locality given in WGS84

longitude

Decimal longitude of the type locality given in WGS84

altitude

Altitude of the type locality. Ideally given as meters above mean seal level. Depth should be given as negative altitudes.

host

Indicates the host organism from which the type specimen was obtained (symbiotype).

date

Date the type material was gathered. Recommended to be given as ISO 8601 dates.

collector

The collectors name

institutionCode

The name or acronym in use by the institution having custody of the material.

added in v1.1

catalogNumber

The identifier for the specimen in a collection.

added in v1.1

associatedSequences

added in v1.1

sex

added in v1.1

link

A link to further information about the specimen, e.g. as provided by the institute holding the collection.

remarks

Any further remarks on the type material.

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

Taxon

An accepted name with a taxonomic classification given either as a parent-child relation or as a flat, denormalized record.

ID

Unique taxon identifier that is referred to elsewhere via taxonID.

alternativeID

A comma concatenated list of alternative identifiers for the taxonomic concept. Every alternative identifier must be a URI/URN/URL or given in the form of scope:id. See identifiers for all details and common scopes.

added in v1.1

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

parentID

The direct parent taxon's ID in the classification. This is the preferred way of exchanging a hierarchy and takes precedence over any classification given in the denormalized fields.

ordinal

A integer to specify an optional custom sort order for sibling taxa sharing the same parentID in the datasets. This can be used to define a traditional ordering of orders and families for example and can be existing for parts of the dataset, e.g. higher ranks, only. The natural ordering of integers from small to large should be applied. Not that this does not have to be a unique, global index.

branchLength

type: [number] The optional length of the parent edge to represent phylogenetic trees.

nameID

Pointer to the accepted name referring to an existing Name.ID within this data package.

namePhrase

An optional, unrestricted, lose phrase appended to the name just for this taxon. E.g. the phrase "sensu lato" may be added to the name to describe this taxon more precisely.

accordingToID

A reference ID to the publication that established the taxonomic concept used by this taxon. The author & year of the reference will be used to qualify the name with sensu AUTHOR, YEAR. The ID must refer to an existing Reference.ID within this data package.

accordingToPage

The exact single page number where the taxonomic concept was treated. If the treatment spans multiple pages, the first page should be given.

added in v1.1

accordingToPageLink

A URL to the exact page where the taxonomic concept was published. If the treatment spans multiple pages, the link to the first page should be given.

added in v1.1

scrutinizer

Name of the person who is the latest scrutinizer who revised or reviewed the taxonomic concept.

scrutinizerID

Identifier for the scrutinizer. Highly recommended are ORCID ids.

scrutinizerDate

type: ISO8601 date The date when the taxonomic concept was last revised or reviewed by the scrutinizer.

provisional

type: boolean

A flag indicating that the taxon is only provisionally accepted and should be handled with care.

referenceID

A comma concatenated list of reference IDs supporting the taxonomic concept that has been reviewed by the scrutinizer. Each ID must refer to an existing Reference.ID within this data package. See best practices for details on how to concatenate multi values.

extinct

type: boolean

Nullable flag indicating that the taxon is extinct (true) or extant (false). This includes species that died out recently.

temporalRangeStart

type: enum

Earliest appearance of the taxon in the geological time scale. Recommended values are geochronological names from the official International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) or million years before present, given with the unit Ma after the number, e.g. 17.4 Ma.

temporalRangeEnd

type: enum

Latest appearance of the taxon in the geological time scale. Recommended values are geochronological names from the official International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) or million years before present, given with the unit Ma after the number, e.g. 17.4 Ma.

environment

type: enum[] A comma delimited list of environments this taxon is known to exist in.

species

The species binomial the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

section

The (botanical) section the taxon is classified in. Considered a botanical rank below subgenus, not a zoological above family. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

subgenus

The subgenus the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

genus

The genus the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

subtribe

The subtribe the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

tribe

The tribe the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

subfamily

The subfamily the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

family

The family the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

superfamily

The superfamily the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

suborder

The suborder the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

order

The order the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

subclass

The subclass the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

class

The class the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

subphylum

The subphylum the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

phylum

The phylum the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

kingdom

The kingdom the taxon is classified in. If parentID is given this field is ignored.

link

A link to a webpage provided by the source depicting the taxon.

remarks

Any further taxonomic remarks.

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

Synonym

A synonymous name for a taxon. Note that the same name can be linked to multiple taxa by having several Synonym records to model pro parte synonyms.

ID

Optional unique identifier for the synonym. If given it should not clash with the taxon ids.

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

taxonID

Pointer to the taxon that this synonym is used for. For pro parte synonyms with multiple accepted names several synonym records sharing the same name but having different taxonIDs should be created. Refers to an existing Taxon.ID within this data package.

nameID

Pointer to the synonymous name referring to an existing Name.ID within this data package.

namePhrase

An optional, unrestricted, lose phrase appended to the name just for this synonym. E.g. the phrase "sensu lato" may be added to the name to describe this synonym more precisely. Or "auct. mult." or "auct. amer." for misapplied names that cannot refer to a single publication. Misapplied names that refer to a single publication should use accordingToID instead.

accordingToID

A reference ID to the publication that established the taxonomic concept used by this taxon. The author & year of the reference will be used to qualify the name with sensu AUTHOR, YEAR. Strongly recommended in case of misapplied names. The ID must refer to an existing Reference.ID within this data package.

status

type: enum

The kind of synonym. One of synonym, ambiguous synonym or misapplied. Defaults to synonym.

referenceID

A comma concatenated list of reference IDs supporting the synonym status of the name. Each ID must refer to an existing Reference.ID within this data package.

link

A link to a webpage provided by the source depicting the synonym.

remarks

Any further taxonomic remarks.

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

NameUsage

As a simpler alternative to the 3 entities Name, Taxon and Synonym a single NameUsage entity can be supplied. A NameUsage record can either be an accepted Taxon or a Synonym and is easily distinguished by its status. A NameUsage.ID acts both as a taxonID and nameID if referred to from other table, e.g TypeMaterial or VernacularName. For synonyms the parentID field is used to link to the accepted taxon.

All properties available in the individual entities can also be used for the single NameUsage:

NameUsage schema

There are two clashing properties that exist both on a Name and Taxon/Synonym, but which have a slightly different meaning. Therefore the following properties deviate slightly from their usage in their classic version:

  • parentID: for taxa it points to the next higher taxon's ID to form the classification, for synonyms it points at the accepted taxon.
  • status: is the taxonomic name usage status which includes Synonym.status and the Taxon.provisional flag. A provisional taxon should be listed as provisionally accepted. Unresolved names which are neither accepted nor synonyms can be listed with status=bare name in which case only the Name properties are relevant. This corresponds to a lone Name record without a Taxon or Synonym record.
  • nameStatus: corresponds to the nomenclatural name status.
  • nameRemarks: corresponds to the nomenclatural name remarks otherwise given in Name.remarks.
  • genus: is the taxonomic classification of a name usage and corresponds to Taxon.genus. For synonyms it often is not the same as the genus part of the name
  • genericName: corresponds to the genus field of a name and represents the atomized genus of a scientificName.
  • referenceID: corresponds to the taxonomic reference(s) otherwise given in Taxon/Synonym.referenceID.
  • nameReferenceID: corresponds to the nomenclatural reference otherwise given in Name.referenceID.
  • namePublishedInYear: corresponds to Name.publishedInYear.
  • namePublishedInPage: corresponds to Name.publishedInPage.
  • namePublishedInPageLink: corresponds to Name.publishedInPageLink.
  • nameAlternativeID: corresponds to Name.alternativeID. added in v1.1

If a single NameUsage entity is given no further Name, Taxon or Synonym entity must exist.

TaxonProperty

added in v1.1

A flexible, generic way to assign arbitrary property values to a taxon. It can be used to share species profiles, traits, descriptions and any other dynamic information about a taxon. Every property value can optionally be referenced and ordered.

taxonID

The subject taxon the property is about.

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

property

The required name of the property the value is assigned to. For example a text label like "Biology" or "Illustration", a Plinian core term or some Wikidata P value like P2974.

value

A required free text value for the given property. If markup is needed Markdown is preferred.

referenceID

An optional reference where this property value was documented or who asserted it.

page

The exact single page number where the property value was published in the linked reference. If the value spans multiple pages, the first page should be given.

ordinal

An integer to specify an optional custom sort order for property values sharing the same taxonID in the dataset.

remarks

Remarks about the property value.

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

TaxonConceptRelation

A directed taxon relation representing RCC5 taxon concept assertions.

taxonID

The subject taxon this relation originates from.

relatedTaxonID

The object this taxon relates to.

type

type: enum The kind of directed RCC5 relation that specifies how the two taxon concepts are related.

referenceID

A reference where this relation was documented or who asserted it.

remarks

Remarks about the concept relation.

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

SpeciesInteraction

A directed taxon relation representing species interactions. Different to a TaxonConceptRelation a species interaction can also point to a species (name) outside of the local dataset.

taxonID

The subject taxon the species interaction is about. Always required to point to an existing taxonID in the local dataset.

relatedTaxonID

The related taxon this interaction is describing. If given it must refer to a local taxonID from the dataset. If missing, the 'relatedTaxonScientificName' must be given instead.

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

relatedTaxonScientificName

The scientificName of the related taxon this interaction is describing. Includes the authorship if known. It is mutually exclusive with relatedTaxonID and if given no relatedTaxonID should exist. The relatedTaxonScientificName can be used to document species interactions without the need to have full blown name and taxon records.

type

type: enum

The kind of directed species interaction. Each interaction exists also in reverse to allow the alternative relatedTaxonScientificName field to be used. Species interaction types are heavily inspired by https://www.globalbioticinteractions.org and the OBO Relation Ontology http://www.ontobee.org/ontology/RO to which all entries are mapped.

referenceID

A reference where the interaction was documented.

remarks

Remarks about the species interaction.

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

SpeciesEstimate

An estimation of the number of species for a given higher taxon, e.g. a family. The estimation must be based on a reference and should give the number of species according to a certain "type" that is expected to exist.

taxonID

The higher taxon's ID that is the estimate refers to.

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

estimate

type: [integer] The estimated number of species.

type

type: enum The exact kind of estimation, e.g. number of described living species or total estimated species including yet to be described organisms. If none is given the type defaults to 'described species living'.

referenceID

A mandatory reference ID that supports the estimate and also provides a temporal context.

remarks

Remarks about the species estimate. Often used to explain the method used when the estimate is not directly taken from a publication.

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

Reference

Structured bibliographic references with a unique id to refer to from other entities. References can be given either as a simple, single citation string, or in a structured form.

ColDP supports fully parsed references in CSV based on the CSL-JSON format. Alternatively references can also be provided in the native file formats for the well established BibTex or CSL-JSON formats. See the sections below with for how to share alternative formats that do not conform to tabular CSV/TSV files.

ID

The local identifier for the reference as used in referenceID in other entities.

alternativeID

A comma concatenated list of alternative identifiers for the reference. Every alternative identifier must be a URI/URN/URL or given in the form of scope:id. See identifiers for all details and common scopes.

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

citation

Full bibliographic citation as one single string as an alternative to the rest of the more structured fields. If individual fields are given the full citation can be ignored.

type

type: enum CSL type that defines what kind of structured reference this is and which fields are applicable. E.g. ARTICLE-JOURNAL, BOOK, CHAPTER, DATASET or WEBPAGE. See also https://aurimasv.github.io/z2csl/typeMap.xml for mapping of CSL types from Zotero and to field sets.

author

The author(s) of the work. If multiple authors use a style that can safely be parsed. Recommended are 2 common forms:

  1. family1, given1; family2, given2; ...
  2. given1 family1, given2 family2, ...

The first form using commas and semicolons can safely be parsed also for family names which include whitespace. In accordance with BibTeX it is also permissable to use the english word and as a delimiter instead of the semicolon.

The second form requires the family name to be a single word, as all words before the last whitespace are considered given names. If a comma is used to separate surname, firstname please use a semicolon to delimit individual authors.

authorID

List of Author.ID identifiers separated by a comma that act as authors for this reference. Authors must exist in the local data package.

added in v1.1

editor

The editor(s) of the work. See author for recommendations how to supply person names.

editorID

List of Author.ID identifiers separated by a comma that act as editors for this reference. Authors must exist in the local data package.

added in v1.1

title

The title of the work. In case of journal articles the article title, not the journal itself.

titleShort

The abbreviated title of the work.

added in v1.1

containerAuthor

Author(s) of the container holding the item, e.g. the book author for a book chapter. See author for recommendations how to supply person names.

containerAuthorID

List of Author.ID identifiers separated by a comma that act as the container authors for this reference. Authors must exist in the local data package.

added in v1.1

containerTitle

Title of the container holding the item, e.g. the book title for a book chapter, the journal title for a journal article. The containerTitle should exclude volume, edition, pages and other specifics.

containerTitleShort

The abbreviated container title.

added in v1.1

issued

type: ISO8601 date Date the work was issued/published. Use ISO dates that can be truncated to represent a year, year & month or exact date, e.g. 1998, 1998-05 or 1998-05-21

accessed

type: ISO8601 date Date the item has been accessed. See issued for how to use ISO dates.

collectionTitle

Title of the collection holding the item, e.g. the series title for a book.

collectionEditor

Editor(s) of the collection holding the item, e.g. the series editor for a book.

collectionEditorID

List of Author.ID identifiers separated by a comma that act as collection editors for this reference. Authors must exist in the local data package.

added in v1.1

volume

type: number (container) volume number holding the item, e.g. 2 when citing a chapter from book volume 2.

issue

type: number (container) issue holding the item, e.g. 5 when citing a journal article from journal volume 2, issue 5.

edition

type: number (container) edition holding the item, e.g. 3 when citing a chapter in the third edition of a book.

page

Range of pages the item (e.g. a journal article) covers in a container (e.g. a journal issue)

publisher

Name of the publisher

publisherPlace

Geographic location of the publisher

version

Version of the item or dataset

isbn

International Standard Book Number

issn

International Standard Serial Number

doi

The DOI of the reference

link

A URL link to the reference. A link to a webpage for electronic resources. url in CSL-JSON terminology, but we prefer link to be consistent with other ColDP entities.

remarks

Additional comments about the reference. note in CSL-JSON terminology, but we prefer remarks to be consistent with other ColDP entities.

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

Reference JSON-CSL

Instead of the main reference file a reference.json file can be added to provide a JSON array of highly structured references in the CSL-JSON format, e.g. as provided by CrossRef:

curl --location --silent --header "Accept: application/vnd.citationstyles.csl+json" https://doi.org/10.1126/science.169.3946.635

The id field in each record of the array is used as the primary key and referred to from referenceID fields elsewhere.

CSL-JSON example

[
{
    "id": "science.169.3946.635",
    "publisher": "American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)",
    "issue": "3946",
    "published-print": {
        "date-parts": [
            [
                1970,
                8,
                14
            ]
        ]
    },
    "DOI": "10.1126/science.169.3946.635",
    "type": "article-journal",
    "created": {
        "date-parts": [
            [
                2006,
                10,
                5
            ]
        ],
        "date-time": "2006-10-05T12:56:56Z",
        "timestamp": 1160053016000
    },
    "page": "635-641",
    "source": "Crossref",
    "title": "The Structure of Ordinary Water: New data and interpretations are yielding new insights into this fascinating substance",
    "prefix": "10.1126",
    "volume": "169",
    "author": [
        {
            "given": "H. S.",
            "family": "Frank",
            "sequence": "first",
            "affiliation": []
        }
    ],
    "container-title": "Science",
    "original-title": [],
    "language": "en",
    "link": [
        {
            "URL": "https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1126/science.169.3946.635",
            "content-type": "unspecified",
            "content-version": "vor",
            "intended-application": "similarity-checking"
        }
    ],
    "deposited": {
        "date-parts": [
            [
                2020,
                2,
                5
            ]
        ],
        "date-time": "2020-02-05T16:15:06Z",
        "timestamp": 1580919306000
    },
    "subtitle": [],
    "short-title": [],
    "issued": {
        "date-parts": [
            [
                1970,
                8,
                14
            ]
        ]
    },
    "journal-issue": {
        "published-print": {
            "date-parts": [
                [
                    1970,
                    8,
                    14
                ]
            ]
        },
        "issue": "3946"
    },
    "URL": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.169.3946.635",
    "ISSN": [
        "0036-8075",
        "1095-9203"
    ],
    "subject": [
        "Multidisciplinary"
    ],
    "container-title-short": "Science"
}
]

Reference BIBTEX

Alternatively to CSL-JSON a BibTex file reference.bib can be given to provide highly structured citations.

The id field following the curly opening bracket is used as the primary key and referred to from referenceID fields elsewhere. You can also download BibTex records from CrossRef using curl:

curl --location --silent --header "Accept: application/x-bibtex" https://doi.org/10.1080/11035890601282097

For converting existing bibliographies into BibTex the AnyStyle parser is highly recommended. It is free and quick to use online for a few hundred to thousand references. For much larger amounts it needs to be run locally.

Bibtex example

 @article{Droege_2016, 
    title={The Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) Data Standard specification}, 
    volume={2016}, 
    ISSN={1758-0463}, 
    url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/database/baw125}, 
    DOI={10.1093/database/baw125}, 
    journal={Database}, 
    publisher={Oxford University Press (OUP)}, 
    author={Droege, G. and Barker, K. and Seberg, O. and Coddington, J. and Benson, E. and Berendsohn, W. G. and Bunk, B. and Butler, C. and Cawsey, E. M. and Deck, J. and et al.}, 
    year={2016}, 
    pages={baw125}
}

@article{Frank_1970, 
    title     = {The Structure of Ordinary Water: New data and interpretations are yielding new insights into this fascinating substance}, 
    volume    = {169}, 
    ISSN      = {1095-9203}, 
    url       = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.169.3946.635}, 
    DOI       = {10.1126/science.169.3946.635}, 
    number    = {3946}, 
    journal   = {Science}, 
    publisher = {American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}, 
    author    = {Frank, H. S.}, 
    year      = {1970}, 
    month     = {Aug}, 
    pages     = {635–641}
}

Distribution

A structured distribution record for a taxon in a given area.

taxonID

Pointer to the taxon referring to an existing Taxon.ID within this data package.

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

areaID

The identifier/code for the geographic area this distribution record is about. The value must be taken from the gazetteer this record declares. E.g. country codes, TDWG codes or TEOW identifiers. If the TEXT gazetteer is used only the free text area should be given with no areaID.

area

The geographic area this distribution record is about. The value provides a human label for the area specified by areaID. Free text values can be provided here when the gazetteer is set to TEXT.

gazetteer

type: enum

The geographic gazetteer the area is defined in. If none is given defaults to free TEXT.

status

type: enum Distribution status.

referenceID

Pointer to the reference that supports this distribution. Refers to an existing Reference.ID within this data package.

remarks

Remarks about the distribution.

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

Media

Multimedia items for a taxon such as an image, audio or video.

taxonID

Pointer to the taxon referring to an existing Taxon.ID within this data package.

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

url

The URL that resolves to the media item itself, not a webpage that depicts it.

type

The MIME-type of the media item the url identifies. Preferably the full type/subtype combination, e.g image/jpeg, but the primary type alone is sufficient (image, video, audio).

title

Optional title for the item.

created

type: ISO8601 date Date the media item was recorded.

creator

Author of the media item.

license

type: license

link

Optional webpage from the source this media item is shown on.

remarks

Remarks about the media item.

added in v1.1

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

VernacularName

A vernacular or common name for a taxon.

taxonID

Pointer to the taxon referring to an existing Taxon.ID within this data package.

sourceID

Optional identifier for the source this record came from as listed in the metadata.yaml

name

The vernacular name in the original script.

transliteration

An optional transliteration of the vernacular name into the latin script.

language

Language of the vernacular name given as an ISO 639-3 letter code.

preferred

type: boolean A flag to indicate if this vernacular name is the preferred name for the given language.

added in v1.1

country

Country this vernacular name is used in given as an ISO 3166-2 letter code.

area

Optional area describing the geographic use of the vernacular name in free text within the given country.

sex

type: enum

Optional sex of the organism this vernacular name is restricted to.

referenceID

Pointer to the reference that supports this vernacular name. Refers to an existing Reference.ID within this data package.

remarks

Remarks about the vernacular name.

added in v1.1

modified

UTC timestamp in ISO format to represent the time the record was last modified.

added in v1.1

modifiedBy

Author identifier indicating the person who has last modified the record.

added in v1.1

Treatment

Treatments are parts of publications that "treat" a single taxon. They can be an original description for a new species, but also subsequent taxonomic works and usually include several sections such as a diagnosis, description, material examined, distribution, etc. ColDP captures an entire treatment either as an TXT, HTML or XML document that lives as an individual file in a subfolder treatments and is named by the corresponding taxonID of the name usage it describes. The taxons accordingToID should always point to the reference the treatment is published in. Example: treatments/19854332.html would be an html document which is the marked up treatment for the taxon with ID 19854332.

Identifiers

Identifiers are important and often come embedded with some resolution URL to make them globally unique and actionable. For sharing the true identifiers only, which often have a local scope, ColDP requires them to be prefixed with a known scope abbreviation. For example COL identifiers should be shared not by their API or portal URL (http://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/NN), but instead as col:NN.

These type of compact identifiers are also known CURIEs. Scopes that are also registered prefixes in identifiers.org are linked.

Identifier Scopes

To avoid conflicts of naming scopes we strongly recommend to use the following scope names which are case insensitive:

We do recommend to share bare identifiers with their scope if possible. But sharing globally unique URN, URI or URLs can be done without any further scope:

If you plan to share identifiers with other scopes we encourage users to tell us about them so we can "register" them to guarantee their uniqueness and inform others about their semantics.

Format Comparison

The ColDP format was developed to overcome limitations existing in currently used formats for sharing taxonomic information, namely Darwin Core Archives and the Catalogue of Life submission format also known as ACEF (Annual Checklist Exchange Format). Darwin Core Archives and ACEF could still be used for exchanging data to and from Catalogue of Life ChecklistBank, but the ColDP format will support the most features. The following table provides an overview of different features supported in each of the 3 formats:

Feature ACEF DwC-A ColDP
Linnean classification (KPCOFG) x x x
Extended Linnean classification (subranks) - - x
Flexible Parent-child classification - x x
Custom taxon ordering - - x
Phylo trees - - x
Unrestricted ranks - x x
Higher taxon details - x x
Infraspecific taxa x x x
Nested infraspecific taxa - x x
Basionyms - x x
Synonyms x x x
Synonyms for higher taxa - x x
Name identifier - x x
Nomenclatural status x x x
Fossils/extinction flags x x x
Name & taxon separation - - x
Species interactions - - x
Species estimates - - x
Structured references x - x
Nomenclatural relations - - x
Type species - x x
Type specimen - x x
Taxon concepts - x x
Taxon concept relations - x x
Vernacular names x x x
Structured distributions x x x
Treatments - x x
Multimedia metadata - x x
  • x = supported
  • - = not supported

Best Practices

Please see also the ColDP Publishing Guidelines for concrete examples.

multiple value concatenation

Some fields are allowed to contain multiple values. These must be concatenated by a simple comma. Any surrounding whitespace should be ignored. If the value itself contains a comma, it should be escaped by a backslash, i.e. foo,bar should become foo\,bar. Any other combinations of a backslash with some other characters will be take literally, i.e. \n will remain \n.

parentID vs flat ranks

A taxonomic hierarchy can be established either as a parent child relationship using Taxon.parentID or by using the flat, higher rank terms on each record. If possible the parent child approach using parentID is preferable and the flat higher ranks are not needed in that case.

Species with an uncertain genus

Sometimes there a cases of a described species with a taxonomically unresolved placement. It appears to be a valid species, but there has been no updated taxonomic placement yet (or can't be because of missing types/information) and a current placement into some other genus is not possible and/or no new combination has yet been published. Instead of listing the same "split" genus twice COL strongly recommends to flag the species taxon with provisional=true and place it directly under it's next higher taxon, e.g. the family.

Misapplied names

A misapplied name is when the name of one taxon is erroneously applied to a different taxon. When "misidentifications" are in widespread use in publications they are often included as part of the synonymy of a taxon. A misapplied name may refer to a single misapplication, but frequently indicates all usages of a name are wrong in a specific, e.g. regional, context. There are various conventions in use and phrases like auct. nec Zeller, 1877, sensu Li & Zheng 1997 or Ficus exasperata auct. non Vahl: De Wildeman & Durand strictly do not belong to the Name instance, but to the name usage, i.e. the Synonym or NameUsage coldp record. Separating usage notes from the names authorship can be done in 2 ways in ColDP:

  1. accordingToID can be used to refer to a single publication or author that contains the misapplication.
  2. namePhrase is used for any additions to the names authorship and can also be used for misapplications like Leucospermum bolusii E.Phillips, 1910 auct. non Gandoger with E.Phillips, 1910 being the Name.authorship and auct. non Gandoger the Synonym.namePhrase

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ColDP v1.1.0 Latest
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