Towards computable taxonomic knowledge: Leveraging nanopublications for sharing new synonyms in the Madagascan genus Helictopleurus (Coleoptera, Scarabaeinae)

Abstract

Numerous taxonomic studies have focused on the dung beetle genus Helictopleurus d’Orbigny, 1915, endemic to Madagascar. However, this genus stilll needs a thorough revision. Semantic technologies, such as nanopublications, hold the potential to enhance taxonomy by transforming how data are published and analysed. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of nanopublications in establishing synonyms within the genus Helictopleurus.In this study, we identify four new synonyms within Helictopleurus: H. rudicollis (Fairmaire, 1898) = H. hypocrita Balthasar, 1941 syn. nov.; H. vadoni Lebis, 1960 = H. perpunctatus Balthasar, 1963 syn. nov.; H. halffteri Balthasar, 1964 = H. dorbignyi Montreuil, 2005 syn. nov.; H. clouei (Harold, 1869) = H. gibbicollis (Fairmaire, 1895) syn. nov. Helictopleurus may have a significantly larger number of synonyms than currently known, indicating potentially inaccurate estimates about its recent extinction.We also publish the newly-established synonyms as nanopublications, which are machine-readable data snippets accessible online. Additionally, we explore the utility of nanopublications in taxonomy and demonstrate their practical use with an example query for data extraction.

Keywords

• dung beetles
• taxonomy
• nomenclature
• machine-read