CYBERTRUFFLE'S ROBIGALIA
Observations of fungi and their associated organisms

Guide to the Site

Disclaimer

This website has been developed for taxonomic purposes. The information on which it is based is subject to change, correction, improvement and upgrades. There are likely to be errors, and no guarantee is supplied that information is correct. The map boundaries displayed on this website do not represent any political opinion. The user is advised in all cases to verify information before accepting it.

Querying the database

Clicking the menu choice "Select & Search" on the left hand bar leads to the Select & Search page, where there are five groups of hyperlinks. These provide access to the database through names of countries, names of fungal genera, and names of associated organism genera. Information is displayed in alphabetical order or numerical order, as appropriate, throughout all searches. Important. If you want access to the database through the name of an individual taxon of any group (ie of fungi or their associated organisms) at any level (including species), please go to Cybernome. Note that there is a difference between Robigalia and Cybernome when searching for information relating to a generic name. In Cybernome access will be provided only to records identified at generic level. In Robigalia, collective information about all records of all taxa within a given genus will be provided.

Two of the hyperlinks on the Select & Search page ("Countries with special Cybertruffle websites" and "Associated organism genera with separate Cybertruffle websites") will open a new website in a new window, and offer a new and usually more restricted range of languages to choose from. Hyperlinks in the other three groups, providing access to "Other countries", "Fungal genera" and "Other associated organism genera", will open in the same window, and will continue to work in the current language of the website. With these three groups of hyperlinks, please be patient waiting for the resulting page to open, as they send complex requests to the database, which take time to process. After the resulting page has opened, it is possible to refine the search by clicking on different hyperlinks as desired.

When selecting a country, the resulting page is displayed as a simple list if there are fewer than 1000 records for that country. If there are more than 999 records for that country, the initial list displays only taxa with names beginning with the letter "A", and a menu is provided enabling the user to search for taxa with names beginning with other letters. When selecting a fungal or associated organism genus, the resulting page is displayed as a simple list. Clicking on any hyperlink thereafter leads to the Search Result page.

Format of the Search Result page

Each Search Result page starts with the name of the current organism in bold followed, where available, by its authors. The organism name provides a hyperlink to full nomenclatural and taxonomic information about the species on the Cybernome website, which will open in a new window.

Next follows a line of text providing a statement of the selection criteria on which the Search Result page for the current organism is based. There are two criteria for selection. The first is location (country and, optionally county / oblast' / province / state etc. within that country). The second is associated organism. Important. The database will only reliably show ALL records for the current organism when the selection criteria for location and associated organism are both set to "any". The location criterion indicates which, if any, country has been selected. If the current selection is for records from just one county / oblast' / province / state etc. of that country, information about that selection will appear in parentheses after the country name. If a particular associated organism has been selected, that will then be named. Important. When a particular associated organism has been selected, its name is presented with a hyperlink. Clicking on that hyperlink has the effect of making the associated organism and the current organism change places (eg the equivalent of changing "Bertia moriformis on Fagus sylvatica" to "Fagus sylvatica with Bertia moriformis"): this is a very powerful tool. Finally, if a distribution map of the current organism is available, there will be a hyperlink to that map at the end of this line, resulting in a Distribution Map page.

Next follows a summary of the status of the current organism based on the selection criteria. Each component of the summary is displayed only when there is available information. Number of records shows the number of records in the database fitting the selection criteria. Date information shows the date of the earliest record, and months of the year in which the organism has been recorded, based on the selection criteria. When the selection criterion for location is set to "any", Locations lists countries from which the current organism has been recorded, taking into account the associated organism selection criterion. When the selection criterion for location is set to a particular country, Locations lists county / oblast' / province / state etc., if available, from which the current organism has been recorded, taking into account the associated organism selection criterion. In all such cases, a hyperlink is provided for each location so that the search can be refined. Associated organisms lists associated organisms and substrata for the current organism, taking into account the location criterion. A hyperlink is provided for each associated organism so that the search can be refined. Reference collections provides information about reference collection specimens of the current organism, based on the selection criteria. Clicking on an individual specimen number or code will display an Information about Individual Records page displaying detailed information about that specimen. A further option may be provided to view information about the same specimen from the official website of the relevant reference collection. Clicking on that option will open the official website in a new window. Literature provides references and page numbers for publications giving rise to information about the current organism, based on the selection criteria. Where possible, references have hyperlinks to the full bibliographic citation in Cyberliber, the digital mycological library, which will open in a new window.

If the selection criterion for location is set for a country with no counties / oblasts / provinces / states etc., or if the selection criterion is set for an individual county / oblast' / province / state etc. within a country AND there are field observation records for that area (ie records which are based on neither a voucher specimen nor a literature reference), an option is then provided to view such records. Clicking on this option results in the Search Result page being replaced by an Information about Individual Records page displaying information about these observations individually. Further options may then be displayed, as appropriate, enabling the user to expand the search, for example from records of one province to all the records within a given country, or from one country to records worldwide etc.

Alphabets and Languages

Apart from the Latin in universal use for scientific names, the default language in the databases of Cybertruffle's Robigalia is English, and the default alphabet is the Latin alphabet. When one of the other available languages has been selected, the prompts and most of the information will be presented seamlessly in that language, using its normal alphabet. At present the main exceptions are as follows:

  • names of most counties / oblasts / provinces / states etc. are often given in their English form, and almost always in the Latin alphabet.

  • names and descriptions of exact places are almost always in English.

  • names and descriptions of a very small range of substrata are only provided in English.

  • names of collectors and identifiers are often in their English form and always in the Latin alphabet.

    Format of the Distribution Map page

    The Distribution Map page is only available where there are records of sufficient accuracy for placing on a map. The page begins by indicating the current organism and selection criteria. A map is then displayed using the facilities of Microsoft's Virtual Earth. Microsoft's maps are shown in "road map" format. Records on which the distribution information is based are shown with green symbols (see table below). For maps at world, continent and country level, the facilities to zoom in, zoom out, pan and change the format to satellite view are all switched off. For maps at county / oblast' / province / state etc. level, these facilities are switched on. Important. For maps at country level and below, other records which may exist from neighbouring countries or counties / oblasts / provinces / states etc. are not displayed. Where there are records from the same location, only one is displayed. Where records are from different, but very close locations, the user is advised to use the zoom facility, if it is available, to distinguish individual items. When the mouse pointer is held over a particular record, a small window will open providing information about that record. Where appropriate, hyperlinks inside that window will enable the user to trace individual sources of information. Currently a small inconsistency in Microsoft's programming may sometimes make that small window appear in an unexpected location.

    Legend

     Accuracy: country
    Field observation only
    Published observation
    Observation supported by a specimen

     Accuracy: state / oblast etc.
    Field observation only
    Published observation
    Observation supported by a specimen

     Accuracy: district / parish etc.
    Field observation only
    Published observation
    Observation supported by a specimen

     Accuracy: 1 minute [latitude / longitude]
    Field observation only
    Published observation
    Observation supported by a specimen

     Accuracy: 10 minutes [latitude / longitude]
    Field observation only
    Published observation
    Observation supported by a specimen

    Additional mapping information. Please note the following points.

  • Where there are records of an organism not only at species level, but also at subspecific level, subspecific level information is not displayed separately, but is incorporated in the species level information.

  • In the case of records with latitude and longitude data accurate to the nearest minute, the location is shown by a green square, and the centre of that square marks the point where the record was made. In the case of records with latitude and longitude data accurate to the nearest ten minutes, the location is shown by a green star, and the centre of that star marks the mid point of the ten minute square in which the record was made. This may at times make the location of recording of, for example, a terrestrial fungus appear to be in the sea.


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