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| Cucumis and Cucumella (Cucurbitaceae): Interactive Identifications and Queries Tutorial |
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Starting INTKEY Screen Layout Interactive Identification Information Retrieval Main Toolbar |
Character Toolbar Taxa Toolbar Advanced Mode Operating System and Hardware Requirements Contacts |
The software program INTKEY, version 5.11, is used for interactive identifications and information retrieval (Dallwitz et al., 1992, 1999a, 1999b), and must be installed on the user’s PC. It can be downloaded or opened and installed via the Internet from http://delta-intkey.com/www/programs.htm, at no charge. Once INTKEY is installed, open an Internet browser and connect to the download page and start the Internet identification system for legume fruits and seeds. INTKEY will be automatically started with the legume fruit and seed database loaded.
At the top of the screen are three bars: the top bar is a name bar with the names of the program and the database; the middle bar is a menu bar; and the bottom bar is the main toolbar. Below the bars are four display panes: 1) the top-left pane with a list of available characters; 2) lower-left pane with a list of used characters; 3) top-right pane with a list of remaining taxa; and 4) lower-right pane with a list of eliminated taxa. At the top of the upper-left pane is the character toolbar with buttons that principally affect the characters, and at the top of the upper-right pane is the taxa toolbar with buttons that only affect the taxa.
1. Select an appropriate character in the upper-left pane.
2. If the selected character is illustrated, an image will appear with illustrations of the character states or a box in which numerical values can be entered. If the selected character is not illustrated, either a list of the character states or a box for entering numerical values will appear. Either click on a state or enter a numerical value, and then press OK. If you are not sure of the correct character state to select or value to enter, do not guess. Instead select more than one character state, enter a range of values, or press cancel and try another character.
3. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until only a single genus remains.
When a single genus remains, verify the identification by comparing the
specimen with the illustrations and/or descriptions of the genus. The fruit
illustrations associated with a genus are automatically displayed at completion
of an identification. You can obtain a full description, a diagnostic description,
the classification, distribution, and note, or any other illustrations by
clicking the ‘Information’ button. The diagnostic description only uses characters
that have not been used in the current identification, and distinguishes
the remaining genus from all others by at least one character. The images
are scaled to fit the screen; to turn scaling on or off, click ‘Scaled’ in
the image’s ‘Window’ menu. To view an image or text at the maximum possible
size, click its ‘maximize’ button 
. Many genera
have more than one image as indicated by a box in the lower right-hand corner
with ‘1 of …’ If there is no box in the lower right-hand corner, then the
genus has a single image. To view the remaining images for a genus, click
on the ‘Control’ menu of the image, and then ‘Next Image’ or ‘Previous Image.’
Alternatively, you can use the ‘Subject’ menu (which will not be present
if there is only one image).
At any time during an identification, to view the images or descriptions
of the remaining genera, select the desired genera in the upper-right pane,
and then press the 'Information about taxa' button 
.
Customized queries can be performed listing species and/or infraspecific taxa with or without particular characters and distributions, singly or in combination. For example, a query for a list of melons native to South Africa with aculeate fruits, will yield nine species. Press the following button to begin a query:
Perform a data query. This button clears any information entered in previous
identifications or queries, includes all taxa, puts the characters in natural
order, and sets parameters suitable for information retrieval and error tolerance
to 0. Note that identifications cannot be carried out when the INTKEY parameters are set for a query. To do an identification after a query, press the 'Perform an identification' button on the main toolbar.
Positioning the cursor over an active toolbar button causes a brief description
of that button’s function to be displayed. If more information is required,
press the ‘Help’ button 
at the far right-hand
end of the main toolbar, and then click on the active button for which further
details are desired.
Introduction and references. This button displays a table of contents giving access
to various materials, including a general introduction,
subfamily seed key and discussions, procedures, character occurrence and
frequency, implicit characteristics, hints, acknowledgements, and references.
Perform an identification. This button clears any information entered in previous identifications or queries, includes suitable taxa for an identification, puts the characters in best order, and sets parameters suitable for an identification and error tolerance to 0.
Perform a data query. This button clears any information entered in previous
identifications or queries, includes all taxa, puts the characters in natural
order, and sets parameters suitable for information retrieval and error tolerance
to 0. Note that identifications cannot be carried out when the INTKEY parameters are set for a query. To do an identification after a query, press the 'Perform an identification' button on the main toolbar.
Positioning the cursor over an active toolbar button causes a brief description
of that button’s function to be displayed. If more information is required,
press the ‘Help’ button 
at the far right-hand
end of the main toolbar, and then click on the active button for which further
details are desired.
Restart identification. This button starts a new identification.
'Best' order. This button displays the characters in the upper-left
pane in order of their merit for separating the remaining taxa in an identification.
The merit of a character is calculated partly from its separating power,
and partly from its ‘reliability’ or ease of use.
Natural order. This button displays the characters in the upper-left
pane in the order in which the author placed them in the character list.
Differences between the specimen and the remaining or selected taxa. This
button displays the differences between the specimen and the remaining or
selected taxa. Before pressing the button, you may select the required taxon
or taxa in either or both of the ‘Taxa’ panes; if no taxa are selected, the
‘Remaining’ taxa are used.
Set error tolerance.
Press this button to set the ‘error tolerance’ for an identification. A taxon
will remain under consideration until the number of differences between it
and the specimen is greater than the error tolerance. You should increase
the current value by 1 if you are aware that you have made a mistake in an
identification (because the illustration or description of the remaining
taxon does not correspond to your specimen), but you do not know what the
mistake is. Then continue the identification as before. The name of each
remaining taxon will be preceded by a number in parentheses, indicating the
number of differences between the specimen and the taxon.
Use a subset of the characters. Use this button to select a predefined
set of characters, which will be used with subsequent commands. The character
set will persist until changed again using this button, or the Identify
fruits (including seeds) or Identify seeds buttons. It will not
be affected by starting a new identification.
Find text in characters. Press this button to search for text in
the ‘Characters’ (left-hand) panes. The characters found are shown in blue.
By default, only the lines in the top-left pane are searched. Check boxes
allow the search to be extended to the bottom-left pane and to the character
states.
Positioning the cursor over an active toolbar button causes a brief description
of that button’s function to be displayed. If more information is required,
press the ‘Help’ button 
at the far right-hand
end of the main toolbar, and then click on the active button for which further
details are desired.
Information about taxa. Press this button to open a dialog box in
which the desired genera and types of information are selected. The information
can be used to confirm or reject an identification or to complete an identification
by browsing through the remaining genera. The images are scaled to fit the
screen; to turn scaling on or off, click ‘Scaled’ in the image’s ‘Window’
menu. To view an image or text at the maximum possible size, click its ‘maximize’
button .
Differences between taxa. Press this button to display the differences
between two or more genera, and then select the desired genera.
Use a subset of the taxa. Press this button to choose a set of taxa
for use in subsequent operations. If an identification is in progress, the
attributes that have been specified are applied to the new set of taxa.
Find text in the taxon names. Press this button to search for text
in the taxon names in the ‘Taxa’ panes. The authorities are also searched,
although they are not normally displayed in these panes. The names found
are selected, allowing them to be used in subsequent operations (for example,
in requesting information about the taxa). By default, all the matching names
are selected; ‘Next’ and ‘Previous’ buttons allow all the selections to be
seen, if they cannot all be displayed together. Clicking the radio button
‘Select one’ cause the names to be selected one by one; the ‘Next’ and ‘Previous’
buttons then move the selection to the next or previous matching name.
The default mode of operation is Normal Mode. In Normal Mode, the functions for identifications are visible, and are activated using the toolbar buttons. INTKEY has a wealth of additional functions. To access those functions, click ‘File’ on the Menu bar, and then 'Advanced Mode'. Five more menu selections are added to the Menu Bar, and the program should be run using both the Toolbar buttons and the menus. Extensive explanations and information are provided through the Help menu.
Operating-System and Hardware Requirements
The software in this package requires Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0 (or above), ME, XP,or later. It will work on any hardware capable of running these Windows versions. For good image quality, a display card with at least 32,768 colors at 800×600 or 1024×768 resolution and a refresh rate of at least 70Hz is recommended.
Correspondence on the data should be addressed to:
J.H. Kirkbride, Jr.
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory
Room 304, Building 011A, BARC-West
Beltsville, Maryland, 20705-2350 USA
Phone: 1-301-504-9447 Fax: 1-301-504-5810
Joseph.Kirkbride@ars.usda.gov
Correspondence on the software should be addressed to:
M.J. Dallwitz
13 Warrambool Close
Giralang ACT 2617, Australia
Phone: 61-2-6241-2884
http://delta-intkey.com/dallwitz.htm
Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory
Questions about web site: Erin McCray
Page last updated 26 April 2007
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