This is a documentation subpage for Template:Automatic taxobox. It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template is used on approximately 81,000 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

This template uses Lua: Module:Automated taxobox (sandbox)

This page gives more details on using the {{Automatic taxobox}} template, one of a number of "automated taxobox templates". Please ensure that you are using the right template; see Which taxobox should I use?. In particular, articles about species should almost always use {{Speciesbox}}, not this template.

If this is your first time using any of the automated taxobox templates, the pages linked in the navigation box provide information on different parts of the system. It's a good idea to at least read the introduction.

Every automatic taxobox should contain the following general layout, often with many additional parameters:

For zoological taxa:

{{Automatic taxobox
|taxon = Canis
|authority = Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus, 1758
}}

For botanical^[1] taxa:

{{Automatic taxobox
|taxon = Nepenthes
|authority = Carl Linnaeus|L.
}}

The taxon is the scientific name for whatever the article is about. If you've never entered an authority, you can get help with that from the relevant WikiProject (see a directory at WP:TOL#Scope and descendant projects.

Hit "preview". If it looks correct, you're done. Save your changes. Please don't save the page until you've first checked for and resolved all issues with the automatic taxobox.

At the end of this guide is a list of all parameters available as well as definitions for all the parameters introduced by {{Automatic taxobox}}. Most parameters from the manual {{Taxobox}} template are valid in an automatic taxobox, and for descriptions of some of the parameters, see the documentation for that template.

Straightforward examplesedit

Cheiroglossa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Division:	Polypodiophyta
Class:	Polypodiopsida
Order:	Ophioglossales
Family:	Ophioglossaceae
Subfamily:	Ophioglossoideae
Genus:	Cheiroglossa C.Presl[2]
Species[2]
Cheiroglossa malgassica (C.Chr.) Pic.Serm. Cheiroglossa palmata (L.) Presl

{{Automatic taxobox
|taxon = Cheiroglossa
|authority = C.Presl<ref name=POWO_17068350-1/>
|subdivision_ranks = Species
|subdivision =
  {{Linked species list
  |Cheiroglossa malgassica|(C.Chr.) Pic.Serm.
  |Cheiroglossa palmata|(L.) Presl
  }}
|subdivision_ref = <ref name=POWO_17068350-1/>
}}

Panthera Temporal range: Late Miocene – present, 5.95–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Tigress in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Felidae
Subfamily:	Pantherinae
Genus:	Panthera Oken, 1816[3]
Extant species[3]
Panthera tigris Panthera uncia Panthera onca Panthera leo Panthera pardus

{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = Late Miocene – present, {{fossil_range|5.95|0}}
| image = Panthera tigris tigris Tidoba 20150306.jpg
| image_caption = Tiger|Tigress in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve
| taxon = Panthera
| authority = Lorenz Oken|Oken, 1816<ref name=CatSG2017/>
| subdivision_ranks = Extant species
| subdivision =
*''Tiger|Panthera tigris''
*''Snow leopard|Panthera uncia''
*''Jaguar|Panthera onca''
*''Lion|Panthera leo''
*''Leopard|Panthera pardus''
| subdivision_ref = <ref name=CatSG2017/>
}}

Creating and manipulatingedit

"Missing taxonomy template"edit

If you see the message "Missing taxonomy template (fix):", you didn't mess up the automatic taxobox. This error means that there isn't yet a taxonomy template for the value you've given |taxon=.

Creating the taxonomy templateedit

To begin resolving this ugly red error, right-click the "fix" link and open that link in either a new tab or a new window. On the landing page, you should be editing a template corresponding to whatever taxon is at the end of the page's title. (For a complete guide to taxonomy templates, start at Introduction to taxonomy templates.)

First, fill in the rank parameter. Use the Latin name. There are many options here (see Wikipedia:Automated taxobox system/taxonomy templates#rank for a list of supported ranks). Some examples are as follows:

• regnum
• phylum
• classis
• ordo
• familia
• tribus
• genus
• clade or cladus
• unranked

If what you need is something extremely atypical, you can actually just type it there instead of one of the supported ranks. It might break the taxobox, but that's what Wikipedia talk:Automated taxobox system is for.

You'll see |link= is already filled in for you with to give

link={{subst:#titleparts:{{subst:PAGENAME}}|2|2}}

which happens to be wikisyntax for "the part of the title of the page that comes after "Template:Taxonomy/". In other words, it will be the name of the taxon. You can leave it alone unless the name of the taxon isn't the name of the page it links to. For example, the taxon Spheniscidae is at Penguin. In this case, you would add Penguin| before {{subst:#titleparts:{{subst:PAGENAME}}|2|2}} to give

link=Penguin|{{subst:#titleparts:{{subst:PAGENAME}}|2|2}}

or you could replace what is there already to give

link=Penguin|Spheniscidae