Help:Taxon identifiers
Taxon identifiers are identifiers of a biological taxon by a number of databases. Their purpose is to give a point of reference for each taxon. This makes it possible for information such as taxonomic classification to be changed without breaking the link to the data of the taxon. A taxon identifier works in much the same way that a barcode is used to get data about an item. When used on Wikipedia, taxon identifiers can be found near the bottom of Wikipedia pages. They link to records on taxonomic databases. In many cases, each taxon name in a database has a unique identifier. However, this is not always the case.
The links in the {{Taxonbar}} on a page on Wikipedia go to taxon information pages of online databases. As an example, the Wikipedia taxon bar for Sequoiadendron giganteum looks like this:
Supported databases change
A complete list of supported databases can be found at Template:Taxonbar/doc#Taxon identifiers.