Querying for genus-group or family-group names

• Case insensitive: Batraxis=batraxis=BATRAXIS=baTrAXis
  
• Search for both genus-group and family-group names by leaving both buttons unchecked
  
• The options below the query form allow you to switch to a different database
  
• Toggling between “Click for more search options” and “Click for fewer search options” or between “Genus-group & Family-group” and “Austral Species” searches clears the query form
  • Click for fewer search options (default): relatively few taxonomic ranks, text-based distribution only
    
  • Click for more search options: more ranks, regional check-fields. Checking more than one regional box retrieves taxa recorded from any region checked and also matching any conditions entered in the other query boxes. Checking one or more regional boxes will exclude family-group names from the search.
    
• To set search conditions, you can: 1) type an entry; 2) choose from the field’s choice list; or 3) type part of a name/word with one or more asterisks * as wildcards (oma* finds Omalium, Omalodes, Omalonomus; of these, oma*m finds only Omalium; *onom*s finds both Phloeonomus and Speonomites). Present Status accepts only the values in the choice list (which can be typed in); Distribution, Year, and Page use text entries only (wildcards allowed). The taxonomic choice lists filter hierarchically, e.g., if you enter a name in the Family field, only that family’s subtaxa will subsequently appear in choice lists for lower ranks. The taxonomic fields also filter the Author choices, but an Author choice does not filter the taxonomic choices. If you open a choice list window but do not use it, close the window with the normal close button or other lists will not work.
  
• Authors’ names have various diacritical marks when appropriate; in order for those to display correctly in the Author choice list and filter correctly, your browser character encoding should be set: in Netscape or Firefox to Western European ISO 8859-1; and in Internet Explorer to Western European ISO with AutoSelect enabled. Names can also be typed directly in the query cell with the appropriate accented or otherwise modified letters. Some of these names may appear at the end of the choice list rather than in their correct alphabetical position.
  
• Genera based only on fossils have the fossil age given in square brackets [ ] in the Distribution field and so can besearched for by entering *[* or *]* in the Distribution box. In the detailed record view (see below) they show a dagger † in the Fossil field.
  

Summary results/view/download

• Brief query results in tabular form are sorted taxonomically (highest to lowest ranks), then by valid name, present status (PS), and original name (of various ranks), with author, year of publication, and indication of whether the name is in the genus-group (G) or family-group (F) also shown. Navigation controls are at the top; jump to a particular page of multi-page results by typing in the page number box or use Next and Previous to move page by page. The search criteria in effect are shown below the results table.
  
• For valid genera, summary geographical information is shown at the right; if this is truncated (ending with ...), hold your mouse cursor over the text to see the full text in a pop-up balloon
  
• The results can be resorted in ascending order on any field shown by clicking on its column header; the resulting sort order is shown below the results list.
• Detailed data (see below) can be viewed by: 1) clicking a record’s ID number to see it in the same browser window, 2) clicking a record’s window icon to see it in a new browser window, or 3) clicking one or more check-boxes (the top one toggles all visible records on or off) and then the “View selected” button below the results list to see multiple records in a new browser window. The detailed records are sorted the same as the summary results.
  
• Any set of records can be downloaded as a Microsoft Excel® file by 1) selecting records within a screenful of query results and clicking Download Selected or 2) clicking Download All Results (of the query). Doing the latter after a query with no conditions specified downloads the entire database. Documentation of field contents and conventions is available here.
  

Detailed records for each name show:

• Original form (spelling, any diacritical marks or punctuation) of the name as the record heading with its unique database ID number
  
• In the Original Data section, the original name and rank or status; author and full publication reference for the first publication of the name (with its RefNo in the bibliographic database); a dagger (†) in the Fossil field if the name is based only on fossil specimens or extinct taxa, or a number of fossil species if there are both fossil and extant ones; type species of genus-group names or type genus of family-group names, either with author and year; often an indication of the method of designation of the type and any needed explanatory notes; and source of the publication citation (most original publications have been examined, indicated by “orig. pub.”, but a few were obtained from other publications whose RefNo is given, or from the Zoological Record, indicated by “Zool. Rec.”) For family-group names the grammatical Stem is given (based on the name of the type genus) and for genus-group names the grammatical gender (either from the original description or inferred).
  
• In the Taxonomic Information section, present status (= rank for valid names), valid name, taxonomic placement of the valid name, and (for valid genera only) number of described species (probably often incomplete for genera of Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae and Pselaphinae) including fossil/extinct species, and sometimes explanatory information about the original or present status
  
• In the Geographic Information section, for valid genera only, general geographic distribution, through both text and worldwide regional check-off fields. The distribution text field lists countries and/or regions, with austral countries/islands usually listed, though sometimes abbreviated. “Africa” alone means both South Africa and Afrotropical. Subgenera may have regional checkmarks, but since many species have never been assigned to subgenera, subgeneric distributions must be regarded as incompletely and/or inaccurately documented here; in some cases subgenera are coded the same as the genus to which they belong, which may be incorrect. Genera based only on fossils have the fossil age given in square brackets [ ] in the Distribution field.