Template:Automatic taxobox/doc

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. Preview message: Transclusion count updated automatically (see documentation).

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.