{{Speciesbox}} is one of the automated taxobox templates used to generate a taxobox automatically. (As of February 2019, there were 8 such templates.) It's part of the "automated taxobox system", and is used for taxa (groups of organisms) at the rank of species (excluding viruses). The pages linked in the navigation box provide information on different parts of the system.

Note: If you are a new user, it's a good idea to read the automated taxobox system introduction first; in particular to be sure that you are using the right automated taxobox.

This template is used to display a taxobox for a species whose parent's taxonomy is stored in taxonomy templates. A requirement is that the name of the species is displayed as a simple binomial (i.e. in the form Genus species). In a few special cases, the name of the species is displayed differently (as for example at Halictus? savenyei), when {{Automatic taxobox}} is used.

Note that the Speciesbox template does not require or make use of a taxonomy template for the species; it only uses the taxonomy template for the parent taxon, normally the genus.

Usage is basically the same as {{Automatic taxobox}} (with a few variations noted below).

There are five main cases to consider in using this template:

• Simple cases, where the species is not a hybrid so that the × symbol is not present, the genus name is unique and not duplicated between kingdoms, and the species is not the only one in the genus.
• Hybrid species names, where the symbol × is required.
• Species where the genus name is duplicated between kingdoms, so the taxonomy for the genus must distinguish between kingdoms (e.g. Acanthocarpus (plant) and Acanthocarpus (crab)).
• Monospecific genera, where the species and genus articles are combined, with the article title being the genus name.
• Parent taxon not the genus, where the parent taxon must be specified as it cannot be deduced from the binomial.

If the article is about a species whose binomial and genus name are both straightforward (e.g., no rank between the species and its genus, no hybrid symbol, no parenthesized disambiguation in the genus name), then the minimum requirement is to specify the taxon parameter:

• |taxon=name of the species without any formatting (e.g. Quercus major, Lobatus gigas)

(Alternatively you can use the genus and species parameters separately – this is different from {{Automatic taxobox}}:

• |genus=name of the genus without any formatting (e.g. Quercus, Lobatus)
• |species=specific epithet or name without any formatting (e.g. major, gigas)

This slightly reduces the processing needed.)

It's not necessary to include {{italic title}} in the article; this will be added automatically by the Speciesbox template if needed.

For more complicated cases, see the other sections below.

• Page at the binomial name; displayed taxobox to have the binomial name as its title, e.g. Lobatus gigas.

{{Speciesbox

| taxon = Lobatus gigas --recommended 

| authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) --optional; this is the authority for the binomial (species) name

... --other optional parameters, e.g. for an image

}}

Alternatively, use separate parameters for the genus name and the specific name/epithet.

{{Speciesbox

| genus = Lobatus

| species = gigas

| authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) --optional; this is the authority for the binomial (species) name

... --other optional parameters, e.g. for an image

}}

• Page at the binomial name; displayed taxobox to have the common name as its title, e.g. Allium moly.

{{Speciesbox

| name = Golden garlic --required if title of taxobox ≠ taxon name

| taxon = Allium moly

| authority = L. --optional; this is the authority for the binomial (species) name

... --other optional parameters, e.g. for an image

}}

• Page at the common name; displayed taxobox to have the same common name as its title, e.g. Lily of the valley.

{{Speciesbox

| name = Lily of the valley --optional (defaults to page title)

| taxon = Convallaria majalis --essential

... --other optional parameters, e.g. for an image

}}

If the genus is extinct, the extinct status will be picked up automatically from the taxonomy template for the genus, and a † placed before the species name in the taxobox.

If the species is extinct, but the genus is not, then to achieve the same effect, use one of

• |extinct=yes (true is also accepted)
• |extinct=DATE – for recently extinct species, such as the Dodo, to show when it became extinct. DATE is free-form text: examples are "1780", "about 1700", "after 1791". The DATE text will be displayed if (and only if) |status= is set to "EX" or equivalents in different status systems.

The hybrid sign, ×, should not be italicized, whereas the rest of the binomial should be. The example below shows how to achieve the desired effect. In this case, the single taxon parameter can't be used.

{{Speciesbox

| genus = Polygonatum

| species = × hybridum

| ...

}}

Notes:

• The × character is available in the list under the edit text box. (If you use {{hybrid}}, the automatic italicization of the article title won't work.)
• In the article body, you can either use ''Polygonatum'' × ''hybridum'', or ''Polygonatum {{hybrid}} hybridum'' to obtain the correct italicization.

A special case is where the name of the genus is duplicated in different kingdoms, e.g. Acanthocarpus, which is used for a plant and a crab. The taxonomy template for the plant has to be at Template:Taxonomy/Acanthocarpus (plant) to allow there to be a separate page at "Template:Taxonomy/Acanthocarpus (crab)". Consider the page Acanthocarpus preissii. The taxobox has to be set up in this way:

{{Speciesbox
| genus   = Acanthocarpus (plant)
| species = preissii
| ...
}}

The corresponding taxonomy template for the genus, Template:Taxonomy/Acanthocarpus (plant), contains the line:

| link = Acanthocarpus (plant)|Acanthocarpus

to ensure that wikilinks are to "Acanthocarpus (plant)" whereas the displayed genus name is "Acanthocarpus".

Note that this approach is only necessary when the disambiguation is needed because genus names are duplicated across kingdoms.

Another special case is where the article is about a genus with only one species. The article will be at the genus name, but the final taxon to be displayed in the taxobox should be the species. An example is Aphyllanthes, with the sole species Aphyllanthes monspeliensis.

{{Speciesbox

|taxon = Aphyllanthes monspeliensis

|parent_authority = L. --authority for genus

|authority = L. --authority for binomial (i.e. the species)

|... --other optional parameters

}}

The use of the Speciesbox template with the taxon parameter set to the species name ensures that the taxobox ends with the binomial name even though the page title is the genus name. The mediawiki software automatically replaces the generated wikilink [[Aphyllanthes]] by bold text since it goes to the same page. In this case we want to display the authority for both the species and the genus, since there is no other article. The parameters parent_authority, grandparent_authority, etc. are the way to display authorities up the classification hierarchy.

By default, the Speciesbox template uses the genus name as the name of the parent taxon. If this is not the case, because the parent taxon is at a rank between the species and its genus, such as subgenus or botanical section, then use:

• |parent=parent_taxon

"Template:Taxonomy/parent_taxon" must then exist. Conventions for the name of a taxonomy template at a rank between species and genus include:

• "Template:Taxonomy/Genus (Subgenus)" for a zoological subgenus, e.g. Template:Taxonomy/Mus (Coelomys)
• "Template:Taxonomy/Genus subg. Subgenus" for a botanical subgenus, e.g. Template:Taxonomy/Pinus subg. Pinus
• "Template:Taxonomy/Genus sect. Section" for a botanical section, e.g. Template:Taxonomy/Pinus sect. Trifoliae

Thus if a zoological subgenus is to be shown, then the taxobox is set up in this way:

{{Speciesbox
| name = House mouse
| parent = Mus (Mus)
| taxon = Mus musculus
| ...
}}

In some exceptional cases the values shown for the species name and the binomial may require some non-standard formatting. A "binomial" with more than two "words", non-alphabetic characters other than a hyphen, or a need to leave some elements of the name unitalicized require nonstandard formatting. These cases are handled by {{Automatic taxobox}}, not Speciesbox. Examples of exceptional cases include: provisional names for undescribed species (e.g. Quassia sp. 'Mount Nardi', where the provisional name should not be italicized), and uncertain genus placement (which may be specified with a ? as in Halictus? savenyei, or with "" as in "Colostethus" poecilonotus.

Speciesbox
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Muridae
Genus:	Mus
Subgenus:	Mus
Species:	M. musculus
Binomial name
Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758
Subspecies
Mus musculus bactrianus Mus musculus castaneus Mus musculus domesticus Mus musculus gentilulus Mus musculus musculus
House mouse range (note: distribution is incomplete)
Synonyms
Mus abbotti

 {{Speciesbox
 | image = Mouse white background.jpg
 | status = LC
 | status_system = IUCN3.1
 | status_ref = 
 | genus = Mus
 | parent = Mus (Mus)
 | species = musculus
 | authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
 | subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
 | subdivision =
 * ''[[Mus musculus bactrianus]]''
 * ''[[Mus musculus castaneus]]''
 * ''[[Mus musculus domesticus]]''
 * ''[[Mus musculus gentilulus]]''
 * ''[[Mus musculus musculus]]''
 | range_map = Mapa Mus musculus.png
 | range_map_caption = House mouse range (note: distribution is incomplete)
 | synonyms = ''Mus abbotti''
 }}

Speciesbox
Horticultural variety of common sunflower
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Helianthus
Species:	H. annuus
Binomial name
Helianthus annuus L.
Synonyms
Synonymy Helianthus aridus Rydb. Helianthus erythrocarpus Bartl. Helianthus indicus L. Helianthus jaegeri Heiser Helianthus lenticularis Douglas Helianthus macrocarpus DC. & A.DC. Helianthus multiflorus Hook. Helianthus ovatus Lehm. Helianthus platycephalus Cass. Helianthus tubaeformis Nutt.

{{Speciesbox
|image=Sunflower sky backdrop.jpg
|image_caption=Horticultural variety of common sunflower
|status=LC
|status_system=IUCN3.1
|genus=Helianthus
|species=annuus
|authority=[[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]
|synonyms_ref= 
|synonyms={{collapsible list|bullets=true
 |title=Synonymy
 |''Helianthus aridus'' {{small|Rydb.}}
 |''Helianthus erythrocarpus'' {{small|Bartl.}}
 |''Helianthus indicus'' {{small|L.}}
 |''Helianthus jaegeri'' {{small|Heiser}}
 |''Helianthus lenticularis'' {{small|Douglas}}
 |''Helianthus macrocarpus'' {{small|DC. & A.DC.}}
 |''Helianthus multiflorus'' {{small|Hook.}}
 |''Helianthus ovatus'' {{small|Lehm.}}
 |''Helianthus platycephalus'' {{small|Cass.}}
 |''Helianthus tubaeformis'' {{small|Nutt.}}
 }}
}}

The template can normally determine whether the page title matches the species or the genus in the taxobox, and if so outputs {{italic title}}, so usually it is not necessary to add this template. In a very few cases the automatic italicization will be wrong (e.g. if the article is at the English name and this is the same as the genus name, such as Hippopotamus). Automatic italicization can be over-ridden by setting |italic_title=no.

The template will generate a taxobox which will display correctly only if the taxonomy for the genus (or |parent=) has already been created (i.e. "Template:Taxonomy/genusname" or "Template:Taxonomy/parent" already exists). If it does not, you will be asked to create it. One way is to look for the "fix" link and open it.

By default, only major ranks are displayed. The parameter |display_parents= can be set to display intermediate ranks, for example setting |display_parents=4 will show the next four parent taxa even if they would not otherwise be shown. Note that the genus counts as one of these.

• An example: Template:Speciesbox/example
• {{Paraphyletic group}}
• {{Taxonbar}}

• Category:Pages using speciesbox with unknown parameters (1)
• Category:Speciesboxes relying on page title‎ (0)
• Category:Speciesboxes with incorrect parameters specifying the taxon‎ (0)