Format: ORAL

Mark Hughes1, Wisnu H. Ardi2,3, Gosse S. Bootsma1,4, Dipankar Borah5, Janet Gagul6, Deden Girmansyah2, Toby Mills1, Peter W. Moonlight7, Adolfo Jara-Muoz8, Martin Pullan1, Sangeeta Rajbhandary9, Rosario R. Rubite10, Madhavi Sreenath1, Daniel C. Thomas11, Mark C. Tebbitt12, Hannah P. Wilson1, Keqiao Zhong1

1 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scotland, UK 2 Research Center for Biosystematics and Evolution, BRIN, Cibinong, Indonesia 3 University of Florida, USA 4 School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK 5 Department of Botany, Goalpara College, India 6 Biological Sciences, University of Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinea 7 Department of Botany, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland 8 Univesidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia 9 Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, Nepal 10 Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Manila, Philippines 11 Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore 12 Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Sciences, California University of Pennsylvania, USA

Large genera are at the forefront of taxonomic endeavour, as they often need a considerable amount of work and represent unique challenges due to the number of species involved, such as how to delimit bite-size groups for revision and how to best work collaboratively. Here we demonstrate an approach to tackling the taxonomy of the mega-diverse genus Begonia (2132 accepted species), using a relational database system (PADME) developed at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to manage nomenclatural and specimen linked data. We built on published hard copy checklists to make an electronic checklist of current nomenclature and taxonomy. We then added images of protologues and specimens, and included specimen-associated information in the database, with currently 60,327 specimens. What emerged was a specimen-driven multi-user dataset, permitting checklist production for any geographic area annotated with current nomenclature plus type and other herbarium specimens, facilitating a new wave of taxonomic work on the genus. Specimen annotations such as phenology and georeferenced localities have supported emergent global scale macroecological studies on the genus. More recently, we have used DNA data to craft a new stable subgeneric classification for Begonia in order to facilitate revisionary taxonomy and identification, and also added species descriptions from protologues, revisions and floras in a World Flora Online compliant format. We now have a 50% complete draft WFO account for the worlds fastest growing genus. Our approach shows the value of the investment of time in baseline taxonomy, and the facilitatory effects of regional checklists and digitised specimens.