Search for term in dwc:preparations and Advanced search fields returns unexpected records without search term. #422

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Question Answer
First Name Nancy
Last Name Moncrief
Email Address nancy.moncrief@vmnh.virginia.gov
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"I am trying to locate specimens that include post-cranial elements of 2 species of tree squirrels (Sciurus niger and S. carolinensis). In MANIS, I was able to select "skeleton only" as a preparation type.

Which terms, in which fields on the VertNet portal, should I use to retrieve these data in VertNet?

"skeleton only" as exact phrase retrieves no records

when I put "skeleton" as includes, the search brings up records with the word "skeleton" in the occurence notes field of many records, but not as a preparation type."

COMMENTS:

When attempting to recreate this issue I tested both S. niger and S. carolinensis with several combinations of terms including examples such as [Sciurus carolinensis AND preparations:"skull"], [Sciurus carolinensis AND preparations:skull], [Sciurus carolinensis preparations:skull], as well as Advanced searches that use the term "skull" in the fields for "All these words,", Exact phrase," and "Any of these words."

In all cases I was able to return records for S. niger or S. carolinensis with preparations that included the term "skull". Unfortunately, I also returned records that did not include the term "skull." In all cases, these additional records did not have "skull" in any field within the record, including dwc:preparations. They did include things such as "sample skin," "SS, " and "tissue" among other things that should not have been included in query results.

Carla tested this with genus:aplodontia using the same syntax and the same advanced fields. Her results also returned records with samples skin, tissue, and without skulls.

I realize that dwc:preparations does not use a standardized vocab, but I would expect the search API to return the correct records based on keyword searching.