I am new to the GBIF web services but have had some experience using the web services exposed by ITIS, WoRMS and the Atlas of Living Australia. I have a number of questions that this mailing list may be able to assist with. I will send each question in a separate email to make it easier to follow threads in case that becomes important. If appropriate, please just respond by directing me to the relevant web-services documentation (to date I have been working from
http://www.gbif.org/developer/species and
http://www.gbif.org/developer/occurrence).
My first question is how to request all available taxonomic classification data for a taxon using GBIF web services?
For example, from Atlas of Living Australia web services, a request for that information for the species Ecsenius bicolor yields:
kingdom: Animalia
phylum: Chordata
subphylum: Vertebrata
class: Actinopterygii
superorder: Acanthopterygii
order: Perciformes
suborder: Blennioidei
family: Blenniidae
genus: Ecsenius
species: Ecsenius bicolor
From ITIS, I get the somewhat more detailed:
kingdom:Animalia
subkingdom:Bilateria
infrakingdom:Deuterostomia
phylum:Chordata
subphylum:Vertebrata
infraphylum:Gnathostomata
superclass:Osteichthyes
class:Actinopterygii
subclass:Neopterygii
infraclass:Teleostei
superorder:Acanthopterygii
order:Perciformes
suborder:Blennioidei
family:Blenniidae
genus:Ecsenius
species:Ecsenius bicolor
I can currently get the kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species from GBIF but I cannot get ranks like subphylum and superorder etc.
I have found an enumeration of taxonomic ranks within GBIF suggesting that such ranks are supported:
However, it is not clear to me how to access this information using the GBIF web services.
Any pointers in the right direction would be very helpful.
Many thanks
Geoff Shuetrim
Gaia Guide Association