TaxonWorks Together 2026.
We're now open to (free) registration.
TWT is a little different, we do our best to build in as much time to converse as to listen, fear not the relentless presentations, embrace #chat, bring your perspective (kindly).
Please join! #taxonomy
together.taxonworks.org
Screenshot of peartree with a tree and a root-to-tip plot
New feature for PearTree - root-to-tip plots. Web version at peartree.live | desktop apps to follow at github.com/artic-network/peartree/releases/latest
Completely agree. Have you hit the "I built it, let it sit for 2 months, and now I want to come back to it, bit?" Still grappling with how maintainable the code is, in a fairly bi-polar with tinges of existential wtf is happening kinda way.
I don’t see ‘taxonomists’ or anyone organismal on this list of biodiversity collaborators
Lateral view of the magnificent rostrum of a Curculio caryatrypes, the greater chestnut weevil. This one was collected in 1906, just as the chestnut blight was racing west from its introduction point in NY.
Chaos reigns, post rare snoots
For the entomological community looking for data available on Symbiota portals, here is the list of active portals maintained by the Symbiota Support Hub and a number of collection communities around the world 🥰🐞🐝✨🌎.
symbiota.org/symbiota-por...
The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) will soon have six vacancies among its ordinary members and is seeking nominations for new Commissioners to be elected in May 2027. Five vacancies stem from retiring Commissioners A. Ballerio (Italy; Coleoptera), P. Bouchard (Canada; Coleoptera), M. Harvey (Australia; Arachnida), D. Yanega (USA; Insecta), and H.-Z. Zhou (China; Coleoptera); a sixth vacancy needs to be filled to reach the Commission’s target of 28 members. The Commission hereby invites nominations, from any person, organisation or institution, of potential candidates for election. The nationalities and areas of expertise of the present members of the Commission may be found on the ICZN website (http:// iczn.org/commissioners). Article 2.2 of the ICZN Constitution prescribes that “The members of the Commission shall be eminent scientists, irrespective of nationality, with a distinguished record in any branch of zoology and an interest in zoological nomenclature”. Furthermore, according to Article 2.3 of the Constitution, the composition of the Commission shall be such as to secure representation of diverse interests and different parts of the world. Current activities within the Commission include monthly virtual meetings, voting on Cases every two or three months and participating in various activities as needed (e.g., reviewing or proofing Cases and Opinions, co-writing Declarations, participating in ad-hoc committees, preparing the next edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, updating the ICZN Constitution and Bylaws). Based on Article 3.1.1 of the Constitution, the maximum term of service of a member of the Commission is 18 years. Nominations, including the age, affiliation, nationality and qualifications of each nominee should be sent before 1 January 2027 to the ICZN Secretary (ic...@nus.edu. sg) together with a statement that the potential nominee will accept the nomination. Self-nominations are accepted.
The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is calling for nominations for new members doi.org/10.21805/bzn... The call is behind a paywall 🤦♂️ but text is below. Current commissioners are listed here www.iczn.org/about-the-ic... #taxonomy #iczn
The archive is really deleted?! By accident? Out of embarrassment? I guess HD storage cost is going up, maybe a precedent is being set.
Confused.
So I pleased to announce the conceptual spawn of FigTree: PearTree (acronym still to be finalised). If you want to dive right in it is hosted as a web app here: artic-network.github.io/peartree (click the “Example...” button for immediate candy and then click every button you can find).
Hi @gbif.org, just FYI I applied last year, was listed as a mentor a few weeks ago and I'm still being denied access to edit GRSciColl. Is that really a thing for volunteers? 🙃 Do I really have to keep asking for you to let me help collections? For free?? 😂🫠😃
Hot (obvious?) take. We are in the midst of an "AI" induced Cambrian Explosion of creativity. So many ideas will emerge and be explored in this period that historians recreating "speciation" events will struggle to create trees/networks of the provenance underlying the "lineages" that emerged.
Screen cap of the MOL website with a search of "API" in the Documentation returning no results.
New paper with Neal Evenhuis: ICZN Case 3903 – Removal of homonymy between Psilini Fallén, 1812 (Hymenoptera) and Psilidae Walker, 1853 (Diptera) by emending the former to Psilusini. Comments encouraged. www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Image Psilus fuscipennis Wikimedia commons public domain.
Nice to have numbers on this! I can very much second the statement "mapping Earth's biodiversity is far from over".
Looking at the many boxes of Ugandan wasps on the table in front of me right now, mostly with species new to science, it feels as if we've barely started.
Foundations: please step up and take over the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). This is an absolutely essential scanned archive of all of the old journals and books from the 1500s to about 1920. Has been indispensable for my research.
about.biodiversitylibrary.org/call-for-sup...
New True Facts! Insect Waterbenders!
youtu.be/H5bZ4Vk2u7M?...
Hey look #species #taxonomists, cheer up, naming things is hard even in the tech world- mcyoung.xyz/2025/04/14/t....
Many frustrations resonate, but the fact that they do suggests maybe we're not so bad off after all.
@bsky.app Can we please have a modicum of intelligence built into blocking functionality? If you see me blocking, routinely, accounts that follow thousands of people, and their posts are all political, clearly indicating bots (in my mind), can I just block this profile en-masse?
Image a figure in my dissertation. With caption "FIGURE 5.16. Parsimony informative characters for expansion rRNA 28S expansion segments. The D2 region is excluded."
Figure from my dissertation with caption: "FIGURE 5.20. 28S D3-D5 k-word plots. Alternating bands from left to right indicate words begining with A,C,G, and U. Ellipse highights repeating fractal-like patterns that repeat at each increment."
Looking through some old work for content for a presentation I'm reminded how much I appreciated having the freedom to explore visualizations during my PhD. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but one thing seems certain- it emerges in spaces where one is free.
This years TaxonWorks Together is solidifying. We're excited to announce a series of conversations (together.taxonworks.org#Schedule) with guests on #biodiversityinformatics topics that spark our thinking.
Do reach out if you're interested in contributing, from lightning talk to demo, let's talk!
