Vertebrate Animal ELCODEs

The 1st and 2nd characters of the Element Code (ELCODE) for a vertebrate animal were based on taxonomic class:

• AA = amphibians
• AB = birds
• AF = fish
• AM = mammals
• AR = reptiles

The 3rd character was used to further classify birds (AB) and fish (AF):

The 3rd character was not used to represent any information for mammals, amphibians, or reptiles, and was generally filled with an A merely as a placeholder; all Element codes for these groups began with the letters AMA, AAA, ARA, respectively.

The 4th through 9th characters were based upon the sequence in which the Element was found in the appropriate standard reference for that particular taxonomic family, with the 6th and 7th values assigned to genus, and the 8th and 9th values used for species. The 10th character was a sequentially generated numeric code that identified the subspecies; a zero (0) was used if the Element was a full species.

One exception to the standard format used in assigning Element codes for vertebrates existed for passerine birds. Since passerine was described in the third character and represented a taxonomic order (Passeriformes), the fourth character would have been redundant if used normally to indicate the Element's order. Therefore, the letters A, B, and C were used sequentially in the fourth character for passerine birds to accommodate the unusually large number of families in this order.

See also:

Inadequate values for genus, species, and/or subspecies

Example illustrating 5th through 10th characters for vertebrates

of