Species categories developed for the HealthMap Wildlife Trade website.

The HealthMap architecture allows for flexible categorization of species, therefore phyla, classes and orders were only used when they provided a useful categorical container. For example, “Marine Mammals” is useful when an article does not provide more specific species information. On the other hand, skunks are not listed as “Mammals - Carnivora – Skunks” because an intermediate category of Carnivora has not been needed. The species categories can be easily updated, and additional intermediate or more specific groupings are added as needed.