v.260826 to be read in conjunction with part 1: Activities

This catalogue is a cheat-sheet to the structure of ACTAN. Its 357 classes (parents) and sub-classes (children) are correctly grouped and nested, but are ordered by number ID, not text label. (This is because an ID represents a concept which will barely change, whereas the concept's label may be amended.) You can search it with your browser's 'Find in page' function. It can help you select the correct Observation Field in iNat and add a comment. Certain higher level classes are not really helpful for annotating your observations, being pragmatic category aggregating devices (e.g. 'maintenance context'). Try to find the most peripheral sub-class you can (e.g. 'ambush hunt').

Labels are genonymic binomials: each child class has its own first name and its parent's first name as its own second name (with a handful of minor divergences, mostly associated with hyphens). This makes it possible to quickly write the parentage for any class (e.g. ambush hunt forage feed maintenance context). It means that most classes can be distinguished by label from classes which would otherwise be homonyms. (It is very common in behaviour terminology to find the same labels with completely different meanings.) It is also reminiscent of simple binomial taxonomic labelling (Genus species). But it is somewhat cladistic in its ability to dispense with arbitrary intermediary branches whilst still retaining a hierarchical depiction.

The frequent use of gerunds alongside nouns, some of which can themselves be used as noun adjuncts, can make it look like a binomial label functions like an adjective and a noun, but this is a mistake. It can help explain some otherwise awkward-looking binomens. Both parts of the label should be nouns (except for some rare cases). An easy mental work around is to add the modifier '-type' after the first word (e.g. 'hunt-type forage' if 'hunt forage' feels odd).

The catalogue is drawn from the most superficial data level of ACTAN's underlying ontology. Searching the ontology can help you find the correct concept via synonyms, definitions, examples, scope notes, comments, properties, and sources. You may even like to contribute to editing the ontology. For access to it, please contact the project administrator.