LOL - I don't think there are any natural keys here. Traditional scientific names are amazingly flaky. I guess I shouldn't call them flaky; it's just that no one has ever figured out a way do deal with all the complexities of classification. The new LSID's might be more stable - but which LSID does one choose? But it's amazing how many "aliases" are attached to many taxonomic names; utterly bewildering.
It's also interesting that some entities (e.g. EOL) are now using something called Life Science ID's (or something like that) in lieu of traditional scientific names. It sounds like a cool idea, but some of the LSID's seem awfully big and complex to me. I haven't figured out exactly what the codes mean.
Aah, the natural key vs surrogate key conversation rears its head.
