WikiProject Tree of Life
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Article titles[edit]Main pages:Wikipedia:Article titles andWikipedia:Manual of Style § Animals, plants, and other organisms In cases where there is a formal common name (e.g. for birds), or when common names are well known and reasonably unique (e.g. "Cuvier's dwarf caiman"), they should be used for article titles. In all other cases, scientific names should be used. SeeWikipedia:Naming conventions (flora) for article titles for plants andWikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna) for article titles for animals.Note the following guidelines in using scientific names:
For amonotypic taxon (one that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon), a single article should cover both taxa (unless the higher-ranked one has had multiplecircumscriptions, and an article is written to cover them all). If there is no common name, the article should generally go under the scientific name that is most often used when discussing the two taxa, or under the scientific name of lowest rank if there is no clear preference. However, for a monotypic genus (one that contains a single species), the genus name should be used, as it is included in thebinomial nomenclature, and the genus title ismore concise than the binomial. For instance, the order Amphionidacea, which has the single speciesAmphionides reynaudii, is discussed atAmphionides. If the name of a monotypic genus is shared with another topic, it is usually more appropriate to use a binomial as anatural disambiguation, rather than using a parenthetical disambiguating term for the genus. E.g.,Alberta magna is a more natural search term thanAlberta (plant).Not all species need have separate articles. The simplest (and probably best) rule is to haveno rule: if you have the time and energy to write up some particularly obscure subspecies that most people have never even heard of, go for it! As a general guideline, though, it's best to combine separate species into a single entry whenever it seems likely that there won't be enough text to make more than a short, unsatisfying stub otherwise. If the entry grows large enough to deserve splitting, that can always be done later.A useful heuristic is to create articles in a "downwards" order, that is, family articles first, then genus, then species. If you find that information is getting thin, or the family/genus is small, leave the species information in the family or genus article. Don't try to force it down any further. Taxon article templates[edit]Main pages:Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/Taxon template andWikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/Cultivar infobox
Articles about taxa, such as families, genera, or species, typically contain some or all of these sections:
See the generaltaxon template and descendant project pages, such as theWikiProject Plants taxon template, for more detail specific to different groups. Taxoboxes Guide[edit]See also:Wikipedia:Automated taxobox system,Wikipedia:Automated taxobox system/intro, andWikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/Cultivar infobox Detailed taxonomic information, including notes on howtaxa are defined and how they vary between different systems, belongs in the article proper. Where possible, however, a standard table will be provided to allow easier navigation between related groups and quick identification of what sort of organisms are being discussed. These are called taxoboxes. A typical taxobox is shown at right (it belongs on the top right of the pageCetacea).There are three main sections to the taxobox:
Some items that are often included, but are not (necessarily) standardized, include:
Position: The taxobox generally belongs at the top right corner of the article, unless it has been decided otherwise on the relevant talk page - for instance, if the article is not primarily about the biological group.Forcultivars — cultivated varieties of plants — don't use a taxobox; instead use acultivar infobox ({{Infobox cultivar}}) as described atWikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/Cultivar infobox.For breeds of animals, don't use a taxobox; instead use the appropriate breed template; see for exampleWikipedia:WikiProject Dogs/Dog breeds task force andWikipedia:WikiProject Equine/Horse breeds. Talkpages[edit]Tag talkpages with: Categories[edit]Major groups should be given their own categories. When possible, these should use the common name in the plural, except for plants, whereWikiProject Plants uses scientific names by default (seeWP:NCFLORA). In general, only articles about major subgroups should be added, and more specific articles should be included in subcategories. However, when there are only a few articles about members of the group, they can all go directly into the main category. Use your judgement on when to split, aiming for an approximate category size of 10-50 articles.Note that in addition to taxa, categories may also contain informal subgroups. For instanceCategory:Primates may include an article or subcategory for monkeys, although they are not treated as a formal group. They may also include some other articles that pertain specifically to members of the group, although they are not about them.Categories for articles about thebiota of a region should be based on the common grouping of that region used by zoological, botanical, mycological etc. publications. For example, if it is common to separate a region based on political boundaries (as in parts of Europe), categories should be separated by countries. If it is common to separate regions based on geographic features (such asNew Guinea), categories should be separated by geographic region. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sample articles[edit]A number of articles under this WikiProject and its descendants have been recognized for their excellence by the Wikipedia community asfeatured articles orfeatured lists, and may serve as good models. The articles are sorted by WikiProject:
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