Searching
- Search terms are not case sensitive
- Searches can be made on taxonomic names only; vernacular/common names are not yet included in the database
- Searches can be made on names of any taxonomic rank
Advanced Search
- If you know the full name, check the Complete name search button (e.g. Cancer magister)
- To locate subordinate taxa of a genus, use the Complete name search with a space and truncation (*) (e.g. Cancer *)
- Truncation can also be used to locate partial names or to browse the list alphabetically (e.g. Cancer magis * , Feli*)
- Check the Any word in name search button to locate all names containing a particular epithet as the genus, subgenus, species, etc. part of the name; this can be combined with truncation (e.g. serrat*)
Truncation & Browsing
Truncation character: *
Names can be searched using truncation, or to browse the list using a word stem. The minimum number of characters in a word stem is 2. For example, to locate a name where you are unsure of the ending, enter at least 2 characters of the name and add the truncation character
Microtus arval*To browse the list of names beginning at a certain point, enter at least 2 characters as an alphabetical start point followed by the truncation character
Hylob*
Results
The initial results show up to 10 names in a list with the option to increase the list up to 100 names per page using the pull-down arrow as required. Additional pages of results can be accessed using the short-cuts at the bottom of the list.
On clicking the organism name, a 'Name Info' tab displays the following information:
- Rank: the level, for nomenclatural purposes, of the taxon in the Thomson BIOSIS taxonomic hierarchy
- Author Dates: author(s) and date(s) as recorded from the literature
- Hierarchy: a tree of classifiers (with ranks) as used in the Thomson BIOSIS Taxonomic Thesauri
- Life Science Identifier (LSID): a unique and persistent identification code for use by the biological community (requires a browser plug-in, download free - LSID Launchpad (for Internet Explorer users) / LSID Browser Plug-in for Firefox)
- Original Description Reference(where available): the bibliographic citation details for the article, in which the organism name was first described in the literature (subscribers can follow the relevant link through to the full-indexed record with additional information)
In addition there are two further tabs:
- Publications: contains sample titles of recent articles indexed in Thomson BIOSIS databases (subscribers can use the appropriate button to search for additional citations or taxonomic history via the ISI Web of KnowledgeSM)
- Web Links: provides a number of relevant evaluated web resources from the Thomson/BIOSIS BiologyBrowser database
A static page (full page record) is provided for each name, which summarizes the above information.
Browser Requirements
To enjoy full functionality search results require your browser to be javascript-enabled.
How to cite ION (Index to Organism Names) Database
Cite individual names taken from the Index to Organism Names database by their respective LSID (Life Science Identifier)
Cite ION itself as
Thomson Scientific. 2007. Index to Organism Names.
World Wide Web electronic resource.
www.organismnames.com.
