Editing Template:Speciesbox/doc (section)

=== Simple cases ===
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 <code>taxon</code> parameter:<ref group=note name=N1>If the <code>taxon</code> or <code>genus</code>/<code>species</code> parameters are omitted, the template will try to use the page title as the taxon name. This is deprecated, since it is not self-documenting, so is confusing to editors not familiar with the template, and causes problems if the page is moved.</ref>
* {{para|taxon|name of the species without any formatting (e.g. Quercus major, Lobatus gigas)}}

:(Alternatively you can use the <code>genus</code> and <code>species</code> parameters separately – this is different from {{tl|Automatic taxobox}}:
:* {{para|genus|name of the genus without any formatting (e.g. Quercus, Lobatus)}}
:* {{para|species|specific epithet or name without any formatting (e.g. major, gigas)}}
:This slightly reduces the processing needed.)

It's not necessary to include {{tl|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.

==== Simple examples ====
* Page at the binomial name; displayed taxobox to have the binomial name as its title, e.g. ''[[Lobatus gigas]]''.

{{tj|Speciesbox
 | taxon : Lobatus gigas ''--recommended&thinsp;<ref group=note name=N1/>''
 | 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.

{{tj|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]]''.

{{tj|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]].

{{tj|Speciesbox
 | name : Lily of the valley ''--optional (defaults to page title)''
 | taxon : Convallaria majalis ''--essential''
 ... ''--other optional parameters, e.g. for an image''
}}

==== Extinct species ====
If the genus is extinct, the extinct status will be picked up automatically from the taxonomy template for the genus, and a &dagger; 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
* {{para|extinct|yes}} (<code>true</code> is also accepted)
* {{para|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) {{para|status}} is set to "EX" or equivalents in different status systems.