As editors, we try to fill the gaps in missing names as much and as fast as we can with the few hands we have available. However, as we often don't have the time to figure out the most recent combination for every single species, we can now use a temporary status "unassessed" to indicate that further updating is to follow.

The use of "unassessed" has no relation to the name being available or not, nor with the name being accepted or not. It is merely a way to ensure the name is in the database – including the basic data such as the original description – and awaiting further updating with more recent taxonomic placements.

Whilst statuses such as “taxon inquirendum” and “nomen dubium” are based on literature sources, species names with “unassessed” status often only have their original description and no further literature sources as yet. The temporary status allows us to start entering names from the most important monographs of the 19th and 20th centuries without having to spend a lot of our spare time on literature searches.

We hope this alows us to be faster of service to all our users!

Chris Vos, F. L. S. & PD Dr. Thomas A. Neubauer

[Photograph courtesy of Dr. Thomas A. Neubauer]