Module:Cite IUCN/doc

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Usage

{{#invoke:Cite IUCN|function_name}}

Background information

Old-style and new-style IUCN urls

Until late 2018, the IUCN assessments used urls of form

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15955/0

where 15955 is the taxon ID and the “0” suffix indicates a global assessment (other single digit numbers code for various regional assessments).

From around September 2018, the IUCN switched to a new format for the url, of the form

https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15955/50659951

where the 15955 is the taxon ID and a unique suffix identies a version of an assessment. This left all Wikipedia links to IUCN assesssments as dead links.

Shortly afterwards the IUCN produced a backup of the old system with links of the form

http://oldredlist.iucnredlist.org/details/15955/0

which uses an old-style url form on the oldredlist subdomain. Many citations were switched over to this url. However, this subdomain was shut down near the end of 2019, leaving many dead links generating 502 Bad Gateway errors.

Current IUCN citations

A typical IUCN citation, as given on their assessment pages, is now of the form:

Goodrich, J., Lynam, A., Miquelle, D., Wibisono, H., Kawanishi, K., Pattanavibool, A., Htun, S., Tempa, T., Karki, J., Jhala, Y. & Karanth, U. 2015. Panthera tigris. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T15955A50659951. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T15955A50659951.en. Downloaded on 19 December 2019.

where the electronic page number e.T15955A50659951 contains the taxon ID (between the T and A) and the assessment ID (after the A). These two identifying numbers are also contained in the doi.

When there is an amendment to an assessment, a new assessment number is assigned, which causes a change in the electronic page number and the url of the page.

The behaviour of the doi is unusual. A new assessment does not cause a new doi, it retains the original assessment number. If this is used by a template to construct a url, it will be to the original version of the assessment. However, the url of the doi is followed, the IUCN doi resolver redirects to the latest assessment. The target of the doi has changed to the updated version of the IUCN assessment. Thus if the template uses the doi url the linked page will change from the one seen by the editor who added the citation.

Therefore this module will create a url with the following order of precedence:

1. Use the electronic page number set by the |page= parameter to generate the url.
2. Use the |id= to generate the url if it is of the two new-style two part form, i.e. TAXON_ID/ASSESSMENT_ID (e.g. 15955/50659951)
3. Use the url provided by the |url= parameter
4. Use the |doi= parameter to generate the url. This is last choice because it uses the number of the original assessment even when the assessment has been amended.

Legacy issue with old-style urls

There is still a legacy issue with old-style urls, which are still used in many Wikipedia citations.

Some months after the change to the new-style urls, the IUCN introduced redirects to the old-style urls link to the appropriate pages addressed by the new style url.

So the oldstyle url for the tiger http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15955/0 correctly links to the assessment at https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15955/50659951

However, not all asssements redirect correctly. For instance, the oldstyle url for the Bengal mud eel http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/166410/0 links to the home page.

Curiously, while the old style url does not get redirected correctly, the redirect function of the IUCN does link to the correct page.

https://apiv3.iucnredlist.org/api/v3/taxonredirect/166410

but when the taxon id is no longer used it returns an error in JSON format.

There is another case where the old style urls gve dead links, when the taxon ID has changed. For instance, the Italian sparrow was split off from the house sparrow as a new species and both assigned new taxon IDs. This left any old style urls to the original assessment as dead links.