The EDNA online search engine provides a powerful set of tools with which to search the EDNA database. Searches are constructed using seach lines, each of which represents a condition (e.g. 'author contains 'jarz', age is older than 200 Ma, species name is not 'styx' etc.). More complex searches can be constructed by linking conditions using multiple lines; space for two lines is provided by default - you can add more using the 'add extra search lines' box. Conditions are linked using either 'AND' (all conditions must be true for result to appear - the default), or 'OR' (any of the conditions can be true). Note that the system does not allow you to mix these - you must use either all ANDs or all ORs.
| Examples of searches | Meaning |
|---|---|
 | Show all records of Permian insects |
 | Show all records of the genus Limnocema other than Limnocema styx |
 | Show all records of insects published by any author with 'rov' in their name from strata more than 200 million years old (or that might be more than this age allowing for stratigraphic uncertainty) |
 | Show all records of insects from Russia (which might be entered in the database as Russia, USSR, or possibly Soviet Union) |
Output fields are selected by ticking the appropriate box (hold the mouse over any box for a more detailed explanation). Repeated records as consituted by these fields are suppressed; for instance if you select only site information as output you will not get one line for each insect at that site, but just one line per site. This enables you to use the search engine for tasks such as listing fossil sites from a certain country, obtaining publication lists of authors (though note that this will only list publications in which at least one species has been established), etc.
The 'citation' output field gives the author(s) responsible for the name; in a multi-authored publication these may not be the same as the authors of the publication. Where a citation date differs from a publication date this reflects a known discrepancy in actual publication date and cover date (the reference date is the cover date, the citation date the actual date). Citations in brackets refers to the first description of the specimen(s) involved; these will predate the publication that erected the name.
The 'Carpenter' treatise referred to be the 'Carpenter' output field is Carpenter, F.M. 1992 Superclass Hexapoda. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, R Arthropoda 4 volumes 3,4.
The EDNA database also records synonymy information for species. If the synonymy output box is ticked, this is provided as a link in each line of the output - following these links will provide information on the synonymy in a pop-up window.
If you need to export data from EDNA into some other software package, you should tick the 'Produce CSV data file for download' box before searching. The resulting file can be loaded into Microsoft Excel or any other data analysis package, from where you can convert it into any form you need. Note that synonymy information from popup windows is not currenty exported.