Identifiers for scientific taxon names

Identifiers for scientific taxon names

Algaebase

Name-ID / attribute name: yes, numeric / species-ID (for names ranked species and below, for genera and above "#" + numeric)
Example: https://www.algaebase.org/search/species/detail/?species_id=194111 https://www.algaebase.org/browse/taxonomy/#86701
Synonym ID directly resolves to: Name
Stability: Not stated (but apparently stable at least since 2014)
Policy on orthographic changes: Not stated

Australian Plant Name Index

Name-ID / attribute name: yes, numeric
Example: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/102507
Synonym ID directly resolves to: Name (n/a: APNI is a nomenclator)
Stability: Not stated, but presumed
Policy on orthographic changes: Not stated but some names with IDs deprecated

Catalogue of Life

Name-ID / attribute name: yes, alphanumeric / COL Stable Identifier
Example: https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/4HQ39
Synonym ID directly resolves to: Accepted name
Stability: Stable since March 2022 (nomenclatural author corrections possible)
Policy on orthographic changes: See blog post - information page in preparation (MD, pers. comm. June 2025)

Checklist Bank (GBIF & Catalogue of Life)

Name-ID / attribute name: n/a (repository of datasets - IDs may be cited from contributed dataset)

Index Fungorum

Name-ID / attribute name: Yes, numerical
Example: http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/NamesRecord.asp?RecordID=550000
Synonym ID directly resolves to: Name
Stability: Apparently stable
Policy on orthographic changes: Not stated

International Plant Name Index IPNI

Name ID / attribute name: yes, LSID*
Example: https://ipni.org/n/77108241-1
Synonym ID directly resolves to: n/a
Stability: Stable but records may be deprecated and inaccessible. Duplicates exist but are linked to each other.
Policy on orthographic changes: Not stated, but orthographic corrections are made

World Flora Online WFO

Stability: Apparently stable
Policy on orthographic changes: Variants of the canonical name normally receive a new WFO-ID; see https://biss.pensoft.net/article/111210/, no ID is ever deleted https://list.worldfloraonline.org/index.php under Identifiers

Footnotes

• LSID: The IPNI LSID (Life Science Identifier) is a unique identifier used to represent scientific names of plants in the International Plant Names Index (IPNI). The LSID is a standardized format for representing these names and their associated data in a machine-readable way. An LSID consists of several parts, including a prefix that identifies the issuing authority (in this case, IPNI), a namespace that identifies the type of data (usually "names"), and a unique identifier for the specific record. For example, a typical IPNI LSID might look something like this: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77108241-1. In this LSID, "ipni.org" is the domain of the issuing authority (IPNI), "names" indicates that it's a record for a plant name, and "77108241-1" is the unique identifier for that specific record. (Source: ChatGPT GPT3.5 "IPNI LSID" - accessed 7 nov 2023)