The Fauna Portal is governed by simple interim/draft rules.

• To guarantee scientific reproducability and replicability, all records documented on the Fauna Portal need to be backed up by a specimen that is accessible in a public collection such as a museum or university. Observational records are not considered on the Fauna Portal.
• The only exemption to the above rule are listings based on a molecular sequence, if the specimen was destroyed during molecular analysis.
• To provide taxonomic stability, undescribed species listed on the Fauna Portal require:
  • the designation of a 'Fauna Portal Reference' specimen which is equivalent to the Linnean holotype
  • a diagnosis against other species on the Fauna Portal, either described or undescribed.
• The nomenclature of undescribed genera and species is governed by a simple numerical system that is based on consecutive numbers of the genus and species tables in the underlying Fauna Portal database.
  • Listing of the genus level number is flexible, for example as "Genus 2231", "Myrmecinae gen. 2231" or "Genus 2231 (acuminatus gp)".
  • The species designation is listed as "FP-5572". To allow backward compatibilty with other parataxonomic systems, other species codes can be added as suffix in parentheses, i.e. "Aname FP-11621 (WAM MYG231)".
• Main taxonomic levels are nominal only. Listing at these levels can be adjusted as long as it facilitates the identification within a specific group. For example, in ants the nominal order/family/genus levels are replaced by "Hymenoptera - Formicidae" (order level) -> Subfamily (family level) -> Genus (genus level) as these are commonly used in ant identification keys. The order level 'Blattodea' wich includes both cockroaches and termites is, at the order level, replaced by the "Blattodea s.st. (cockroaches)" and "Blattodea - Isoptera (termites)".