Help for the
Scientific Name Finder Screen (Search Option)
CONTENTS
Main Display Screen Area
Overview
The Main Display Area of the Scientific Name Finder Screen (Search Option) displays user-selectable controls, taxon lists and associated header and footer information. With
this Finder you can quickly search the TIARA system's "scientific name" data for taxa of
interest using one or more words that you enter. Search results are displayed in the form
of a taxon list that contains direct links to the Home Pages of taxa that match your name search criteria, and their associated higher taxa.
Taxon List Header Lines
- Finder name and option
- Search criteria for the active taxon list
- List item count (linecount) for the active taxon
list
User-selectable Controls
- "Finder options:" combo box - Make a
selection from the "Finder options:" combo box to switch among the available
options of the Scientific Name Finder. Selecting an option from the
combo box immediately loads the chosen Finder option.
- "Search for:" text box - Enter the name(s) that you want to search for in the "Search for:" text
box. Initiate the search by pressing the "Enter" key or by
clicking on either the "and Search" or "or Search" button. If
multiple words are entered in the text box, pressing the
"Enter" key will default to an "and" search. For additional notes and tips on the search functionality
implemented on this screen, see Tips and Functionality below.
- "and Search" button - Click on the "and Search" button to perform an "and" (intersection) search based
on multiple words entered in the "Search for:" text box.
- "or Search" button - Click on the "or Search" button to perform an "or" (union) search based on multiple words entered in the
"Search for:" text box.
- "Reset" button - Click on the "Reset" button to clear
the "Search for:" text box and position the cursor at the
beginning of the box to receive a new search word.
Taxon home page icon(s) - Click on a yellow Taxon Home Page Icon to jump to the Home Page for the taxon whose name the icon follows.
- "Top" text
link - Click on the Top link (located below the taxon list) to jump to the top of the Main Display Screen Area.
- Scroll Bars - Depending upon your monitor screen size, browser window size and the
length of the displayed taxon list, you may see scroll bars on the right
and/or bottom of the Main Display Area. Use the scroll bars to move the
Main Display Area vertically and/or horizontally to better view its
contents.
Tips and Functionality
Basic Functionality
- Searches are case insensitive (e.g., higher taxon names do not need an initial capital letter).
- Searches match only complete names. Searches for partial names will return nothing or unpredictable results.
- Searches may contain any number of multiple names.
Separate each name by a single space. Do not use any punctuation (e.g.,
comma, semicolon, etc.) to separate names. See also Search Tips below.
- Searches return taxon lists that contain the names
that match your search criteria. Each taxon list record contains a
link () to the Home Page of the matching taxon, and links to the Home Pages
of its associated higher taxa.
- If only a single name match is found, the TIARA system
automatically moves to the Taxon Page corresponding to that name. If this
moves you to an unexpected page, use the TIARA "Back" button to
return to the Scientific Name Finder Screen to check the results of your
search.
- Searches return records for all matching names found,
regardless of rank. Thus, lists may contain taxon names representing
multiple ranks that match your search criteria (try "hesperia").
- Searches that match species-group names return all
generic combinations that match your search criteria (try
"viridis").
- Searches return taxon lists in ascending alphabetical order,
except that interpolated subgeneric names are ignored for the purpose of
alphabetization.
- Searches that match intermediate-ranked taxon
names (i.e., not one of the "standard" Linnaean ranks of species,
genus, family, order, etc.) return a taxon list containing a record for the
taxon at the next higher "standard" rank, and an indented list of
all subordinate taxa at the next lower "standard" rank. For
example: (1) a match on a subgeneric name [try Nodita] will return a record
for its inclusive genus [Leucochrysa] and a list of species belonging to the
matched subgenus; (2) a match on a tribal name [try Chrysomelini] will
return a record for the inclusive family [Chrysomelidae] and a list of genera
belonging to the matched tribe.
Search Tips
- Use the multiple name search functionality to search concurrently for
multiple taxa (e.g., viridis, speciosus, smithi),
or multiple name forms (e.g., texana, texanus,
texanum). The latter may be particularly useful if you
are unsure of the correct ending of a species-group name. Multiple search names may be of different ranks (e.g.,
portalensis, Agrapha , Sphecidae).
Separate individual names by a single space (no commas, semicolons, etc.).
Select an "and" or "or" search by clicking on the
appropriate Search button. The default functionality associated with
pressing the "Enter" key while the cursor is located within the
"Search for:" text box is an "and" search.
- If you can't find a species name using the expected
generic combination, try searching for it using the species-group name
alone. Use the multiple name search functionality to concurrently search for
the species-group name under its various gender-ending forms (e.g., texana, texanus,
texanum).
- Use the higher taxon associations returned in the taxon
list records to quickly find the higher classification of a lower-ranked
name. This can also be useful for locating information on higher taxa whose
names you don't know or can't remember, if you know the name of an included
taxon.
- The "and Search" and "or
Search" buttons operate on the current contents of the "Search for:"
text box and may be used in any combination as needed without reentering
strings into the text box. With this functionality, you can also modify
(or add, or delete) one (or more) of a long list of name entries in the
"Search for:" box without having to retype the complete
string over from scratch.
- The yellow Taxon Home Page icons returned in taxon lists may be slow
to load if they are particularly numerous, if the server
is busy, or if your connection is slow. However, if the adjacent text allows
you to identify the positions where the icons will load, these positions
are generally clickable even if the icon is not visible. Thus, after a little practice, you may be able to proceed
to the desired Taxon Pages without having to wait for the icons to load.
More Information . . .