Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group
The Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group is a research organisation utilising a semi-humorous approach to the taxonomy and cataloguing of bread clips, which have been coined occlupanids. Specifically, HORG is primarily interested in plastic bread clips, although it began cataloguing paper-based bread clips from May 2022.
The existence of a morphological system of the classification of bread clips, such as what is achieved by HORG, has been recommended in articles published in internationally recognised medical journals as a result of various cases of accidental ingestion of bread clips, and the challenges identified in these cases. HORG is therefore using a semi-humorous approach to meet a genuine demand for research.
HORG accepts mail-in submissions for new or rare specimens of bread clips.
History
HORG was created in 1994 by John Daniel. Daniel is purported to be interested in taxonomy and sculpture, and initially made the taxonomy of bread clips for his own enjoyment.In 2011, Daniel co-authored a medical case study on the accidental ingestion of a bread clip by a person with intellectual disability. The bread clip was an incidental finding in this case, but the medical authors of the case noted that plastic bread clips may perforate or obstruct the gastrointestinal tract, and are potentially fatal. The patient in the case study underwent a CT scan, on which the bread clip was not visible, meaning that the clip was radiographically transparent. The clip had been in the patient's digestive tract for long enough for the markings on the clip to erode. The study suggested that the cataloguing and study of bread clips may be important, and the precise identification of bread clips found in medical contexts should be done in order to identify which designs are most dangerous.
Previous studies have reinforced this proposal, including one case study where a plastic bread clip perforated the small bowel of a patient, and the purchase by date on the ingested bread tag preceded the patient's presentation by two and a half years.
As at the publishing of the 2011 article, there had been at least 20 cases of plastic bread clips not passing through the gastrointestinal tract.
Taxonomy
HORG employs a system of taxonomy which is a humorous parody of biological taxonomy, treating "occlupanids" as a biological entity, with species categorised into families and orders within the class "Occlupanida". "Occlupanids" are further classified into the phylum "Plasticae" and the kingdom "Microsynthera". HORG states that its taxonomy is based on the work of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy.HORG also catalogues many bread clip–like products, such as clips on bags of grapes or clips to be used on N95 respirators. HORG classes these products in the class "Pseudocclupanida".
HORG began categorising paper or other natural fibre–based bread clips in May 2022. It noted that these clips are quite different in their nature to the bread clips HORG primarily catalogues, being biodegradable instead of "nearly indelible". HORG classes these in the class "Occlupanopsida" in the division "Chartoniphyta" of the kingdom "Papyrae".
Etymology
The term "Occlupanida" and occlupanid are stated to be derived from "occlu" meaning "to close" and "pan" meaning "bread". The research paper co-authored by Daniel in 2011 purports that these terms are Latin, however, "occlu" is likely derived from the English word "occlude", which is in turn derived from the Latin word occludere, from ob- meaning "in the way, against" and claudere meaning "to shut, close", not "occlu-". "Pan" likely derives from the latin word panis for "bread" or "loaf".The term "Papyrae", used for biodegradable bread clips, is derived from the term "papyrus" which is a thick material similar to paper.