Instructions on Searching for Genera in the

Catalogue of Diatom Names

 
 
 
Input Types Input Fields Results
 
 

Three different query forms, accessible via the tabs above, enable records to be retrieved from their corresponding data sources. Enter one or more search criteria using the inputs described below, and press the "Search" button at the bottom of the form. Records matching all search criteria will be retrieved. Searches are not case sensitive.

Input Types On The Form

Text Box

a text box
A simple text box accepts a string of alpha-numeric characters and compares it against values in the database. If the field in the database contains only numbers (e.g., "Publication Year" or "Accession Number"), only exact matches will be retrieved -- wildcards and ranges cannot be used. If the field is for text, a "sub-string search" will be performed. Searching for "stella" in the species field would match "stella" as well as "constellatus" and "castellatum", among others.
 
Single-Select List Box

a single-select
list box
A single-select list box displays all the values that occur in the database, but allows only one value to be used in a given query. The default value, [any] causes the field to be ignored.
 
Multi-Select List Box

a multi-select
list box
A multi-select list box displays all the values that occur in the database and allows multiple values to be used in a given query. Use Ctrl-Click to toggle individual selections on and off; i.e., hold the Control key down (PC), or the Command key (Mac) when you click on a value. Note, clicking a value without holding down the control key (i.e., a simple click) clears all other selections in the list box and leaves the most recently clicked value as the only selection. Note also that some browsers "remember" selected values between queries even though the selected values are not visible (i.e., have scrolled off) the list box. Press the Clear button to clear the form.
 
Radio Button

a pair of radio buttons
A radio button must have one and only one selection chosen out of two or more choices.
 

Input Fields

Genus
Name of genus. Exact match, or use wild card (%) e.g. "Azpeit%" will retrieve "Azpeitia" and "Azpeitiopsis".
 
Author
Full authorship. The search looks for the given string of characters: e.g. “Mann” will retrieve “Schumann”, “A. Mann”, “D.G. Mann”, , etc.
 
Publication year
Exact match.
 
Publication number
A unique number attached to each reference at the database at CAS. Exact match.
 
Generitype
Type of the genus (the name of a species). The search looks for the given string of characters.
 
Designated by
Person(s) who designated the generitype.
 
Status
Nomenclatural status of the generic name, e.g., validly published or not, nomen nudum, nom. cons., nom. rej. In this field we also indicate if a name is illegitimate or superfluous.
 
Display options
Page Style - Multiple Pages/Single Page
Choose Multiple Pages if you would like the results displayed 20 per page, one page at a time. If you would like all the results displayed on one page, choose Single Page.
 
Record Style - Brief Records/Full Records
Brief Records will display only a few fields of data for each record. Full Records will display all of the data for each record. Be warned that choosing Single Page and Full Records can take a long time to download if there are a large number of records.
 

Results

Query feedback
The query parameters entered on the form are summarized in query language at the top of every result page. Read the query statement to be sure that the query being processed is what you intended. Some browsers have a tendency to "remember" parameters from previous queries. Press the Clear button between queries to clear previously used parameters.
 
Number of records
The number of records retrieved by every query is reported immediately after the query feedback (near the top of the page) as the results are being formatted. If the number returned is much larger than you expected or want to wait for, press the "STOP" button on your browser to cancel the query. You can create a more restrictive query by entering additional search criteria on the form.
 
Retrieval limit
The number of records retrieved is limited to 500 to prevent "excessive resource consumption" by a single user and to prevent browser crashes; large result sets can cause some computers to lock up. Note that 500 taxonomic records amounts to more than a megabyte of data. If you need a result set larger than 500 records please contact Sarah Spaulding or Jean DeMouthe.
 
Output format
We hope the content and structure of retrieved records will be self explanatory, but some of the field definitions below may provide additional insight. At present the only type of output is HTML. We hope to provide structured text and XML in the future.