TaxonSearch: a relational database for suprageneric taxa and phylogenetic definitions

Over the last 25 years, phylogenetic analysis and phylogenetic taxonomy have narrowed the meaning of suprageneric taxa. In phylogenetic analysis, suprageneric taxa identify clades rather than an unspecified mixture of monophyletic groups (clades), paraphyletic or polyphyletic grades, and redundant taxa erected solely to occupy rank. In phylogenetic taxonomy, clades are circumscribed by definition rather than a variable assortment of diagnostic characters. This phylogenetic approach has reinvigorated taxonomy and substantially increased the number of suprageneric taxa in current use. Basic information about suprageneric taxa, nevertheless, remains scattered across a vast taxonomic literature. We introduce a web-based application called TaxonSearch, which aims to provide practicing taxonomists with an efficient tool for logging, locating, and sharing information regarding suprageneric taxa (author, citation, definition, composition, history, temporal duration). An example compilation, “Stem Archosauria,” is composed of 789 taxonomic records that include all suprageneric taxa ever applied to these animals. These records may be searched, sorted or summarized in many ways. Given the pace of phylogenetic work and the increasing number of phylogenetic definitions, efficiently locating information about suprageneric taxa is a growing and critical need.