Flag Entries in DiversityCollection

Any deviations from the expected species identification are noted in Diversity Collection. We use 6 different categories of “flags”, if the blast result does not match the taxonomist´s determination:

CON

obvious contamination like Homo sapiens or a completely different order

XCON

cross-contamination with another sample on the plate like neighboring wells

PCON

contamination with the DNA of a parasite e.g. Wolbachia

CHK

different species or order – determination must be verified by specialist

LUMP

two or more species share one barcode (same percentage) → cannot be distinguished by COI

BOLD

identification of an animal not precisely determined by matching with the database

If a specimen was not determined so far but the blast result shows at least 3 entries of the same species with more than 99%, then we take this result as new identification.

For generating a new identification for a specimen in the DC (based on the blast result or a specialist´s re- identification) first click on the latest determination entry and then on the Add a new identification button. Add the new Taxon Name, the responsible determiner, the new determination date and the identification method in the Notes field.

The new identification will now be taken as main entry but the former determination is still visible.

The lims2fims script running in the background transfers the changes to the DC every 4 hours. From there they are again made available in the FIMS (normally on the next day). They are then visible in the FIMS in the column Problems (Manage columns → Problems).