{ "model": { "rank": 2340, "code": "thing-q8269924", "model_id": "vr.tr.taxonomy", "name": "taxonomy", "purpose": "Let an agent explain taxonomy as biological classification, relay principles, codes, ranks and approaches with attribution, describe group-specific taxonomies and databases, and distinguish biological taxonomy from classification schemes in other fields.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.KNW", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q8269924/", "tier": 2, "score": 109, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Two-domain system", "Taxonomy of diatoms", "taxonomy of Poaceae", "Romiszowski", "tank classification", "evolutionary taxonomy", "bacterial taxonomy", "dinosaur classification", "chemotaxonomy", "Benton Classification" ], "aliasCount": 10, "merged": 10, "knownIn": 109, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.taxonomy", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q8269924", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8269924", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T02:04:24Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q8269924", "registryId": "vr.tr.taxonomy", "name": "taxonomy", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.KNW" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q8269924/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.taxonomy", "name": "taxonomy", "purpose": "Let an agent explain taxonomy as biological classification, relay principles, codes, ranks and approaches with attribution, describe group-specific taxonomies and databases, and distinguish biological taxonomy from classification schemes in other fields.", "definition": "The science and practice of classifying organisms into groups based on shared characteristics and evolutionary relationships, naming them under codes of nomenclature and arranging them in hierarchies of species, genera, families and higher ranks, with approaches from Linnaean and evolutionary taxonomy to cladistics and phylogenetic systematics, and schemes such as the two-domain system and group-specific taxonomies of diatoms or grasses; the word is also used for classification schemes in other fields, from tank classification to educational and information taxonomies.", "what_it_is_for": "Classifying and naming organisms.", "affordances": [ "explain principles and ranks", "relay codes and approaches", "describe databases", "distinguish other uses of the word" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Hierarchical ranks", "Nomenclature codes", "Evolutionary basis", "Ongoing revision" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; hierarchical trees and named groups.", "visual_identification": [ "Classification and naming of organisms", "Linnaean ranks, cladistics, codes of nomenclature, domain systems", "Systematics includes phylogeny; identification keys apply taxonomy; taxonomies in other fields are analogies" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "described species", "typical_range": "about 2 million", "unit": "count", "note": "estimates" }, { "quantity": "main ranks", "typical_range": "8", "unit": "count", "note": "domain to species" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "Linnaean taxonomy", "evolutionary taxonomy", "cladistics and phylogenetic nomenclature", "domain systems: two-domain and three-domain", "group-specific taxonomies such as of diatoms and Poaceae", "taxonomies in other fields such as educational objectives and tank classification, as analogies" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "typology", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is part of", "target": "systematics", "why": "the broader science" }, { "relation": "is governed by", "target": "nomenclature code", "why": "such as the ICN and ICZN" }, { "relation": "is recorded in", "target": "taxonomic database", "why": "such as the Catalogue of Life" } ], "identifiers": [ { "scheme": "ICZN", "value_or_pattern": "zoological code", "note": "" }, { "scheme": "ICN", "value_or_pattern": "botanical code", "note": "" }, { "scheme": "ICNP", "value_or_pattern": "prokaryotic code", "note": "" } ], "standards_and_regulation": [ "International codes of nomenclature", "Type specimen and publication requirements", "Database standards such as Darwin Core" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Unstable names and synonyms", "Confusing taxonomy with other classification schemes", "Presenting contested classifications as settled" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What taxonomy is.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition and ranks.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is biological taxonomy, and what are its ranks and principles?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about biological taxonomy or a classification scheme in another field?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "approaches", "name": "Approaches", "description": "Approaches.", "findings": [ { "id": "approaches-finding", "name": "Approaches", "description": "Approaches.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do Linnaean, evolutionary and cladistic approaches differ, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific approach?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "practice", "name": "Practice", "description": "Naming and codes.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "codes", "name": "Codes", "description": "Nomenclature codes.", "findings": [ { "id": "codes-finding", "name": "Codes", "description": "Codes.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do the zoological, botanical and prokaryotic codes govern names, types and priority?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "describing", "name": "Describing", "description": "Describing species.", "findings": [ { "id": "describing-finding", "name": "Describing", "description": "Describing.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are new species described and published?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits species description?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "groups", "name": "Groups", "description": "Domains and groups.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "domains", "name": "Domains", "description": "Domain systems.", "findings": [ { "id": "domains-finding", "name": "Domains", "description": "Domains.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the two-domain and three-domain systems, and what is the debate, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation attributed?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "specific", "name": "Specific", "description": "Group taxonomies.", "findings": [ { "id": "specific-finding", "name": "Specific", "description": "Specific.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are groups such as diatoms and grasses classified, and where are their taxonomies maintained?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Databases and history.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "databases", "name": "Databases", "description": "Databases.", "findings": [ { "id": "databases-finding", "name": "Databases", "description": "Databases.", "questions": [ { "text": "What taxonomic databases exist, and how do they handle synonyms and changes?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the Catalogue of Life?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did taxonomy develop from Aristotle and Linnaeus to molecular phylogenetics?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the history of taxonomy?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each code and approach be a separate entry?", "How should taxonomic databases be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming group taxonomies and non-biological schemes; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "discipline or field of knowledge", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a taxonomy, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain taxonomy as biological classification, relay principles, codes, ranks and approaches with attribution, describe group-specific taxonomies and databases, and distinguish biological taxonomy from classification schemes in other fields.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Two-domain system, Taxonomy of diatoms, taxonomy of Poaceae, Romiszowski, tank classification, evolutionary taxonomy, bacterial taxonomy, dinosaur classification, chemotaxonomy, Benton Classification.", "10 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 109 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a taxonomy, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "read it and act on what it says" ], "howItIsRecognised": [], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "Two-domain system", "Taxonomy of diatoms", "taxonomy of Poaceae", "Romiszowski", "tank classification", "evolutionary taxonomy", "bacterial taxonomy", "dinosaur classification", "chemotaxonomy", "Benton Classification" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 109 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 10 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one taxonomy from another, and a taxonomy from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a taxonomy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a taxonomy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a taxonomy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a taxonomy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a taxonomy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a taxonomy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a taxonomy sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a taxonomy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a taxonomy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a taxonomy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a taxonomy from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a taxonomy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a taxonomy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a taxonomy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a taxonomy passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a taxonomy between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a taxonomy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a taxonomy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a taxonomy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a taxonomy, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a taxonomy is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a taxonomy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a taxonomy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a taxonomy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a taxonomy says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a taxonomy contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a taxonomy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a taxonomy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a taxonomy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a taxonomy and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a taxonomy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a taxonomy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a taxonomy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "subject-and-method", "name": "Subject matter and method", "description": "What taxonomy studies and how it establishes anything.", "rationale": "A field is identified by its questions and its methods, and those are what distinguish it from the fields next to it.", "layers": [ { "id": "subject", "name": "Subject matter", "description": "The questions it takes as its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "subject-record", "name": "Questions and objects of study", "description": "What it is about, stated so a neighbouring field can be told apart.", "questions": [ { "id": "subject-record-q01", "text": "What questions and objects does taxonomy take as its own?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "subject-record-q02", "text": "Which questions does it share with a neighbouring field, and who claims them?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "method", "name": "Method and evidence", "description": "How claims are established and what counts as evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "method-record", "name": "Methods and standards of evidence", "description": "The methods used and what they are taken to establish.", "questions": [ { "id": "method-record-q01", "text": "By what methods does taxonomy establish claims, and what counts as sufficient evidence?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "method-record-q02", "text": "What kind of claim can this field not settle, and where should an agent look instead?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "institutions-and-classification", "name": "Institutions and classification", "description": "Where taxonomy is practised and how catalogues place it.", "rationale": "The institutional footprint is the evidence that a field exists as a field rather than as a topic.", "layers": [ { "id": "institutions", "name": "Institutional markers", "description": "Societies, journals, degrees and departments.", "findings": [ { "id": "institution-record", "name": "Bodies and venues", "description": "Where the field organises itself.", "questions": [ { "id": "institution-record-q01", "text": "Which societies, journals or degrees mark taxonomy as an established field?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "institution-record-q02", "text": "What would show that it is emerging or dissolving rather than established?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification", "name": "Classification schemes", "description": "Where library and research classifications put it.", "findings": [ { "id": "classification-record", "name": "Codes and their disagreements", "description": "The classification codes that place it, and where they differ.", "questions": [ { "id": "classification-record-q01", "text": "Which classification schemes place taxonomy, under what codes?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "classification-record-q02", "text": "Where do those schemes disagree about its scope?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a taxonomy came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a taxonomy and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a taxonomy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a taxonomy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a taxonomy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a taxonomy is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a taxonomy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a taxonomy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a taxonomy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }