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April 26, 2024 / by Olaf Bánki

Monthly Release April 2024

Permanent identifier: https://doi.org/10.48580/dg4lg

Catalogue of Life (COL) is an assembly of expert-based global species checklists with the aim to build a comprehensive catalogue of all known species of organisms on Earth. As a global consortium, we aim to address the needs of researchers, policy-makers, environmental managers and the wider public for a consistent and up-to-date listing of all the world’s known species. We are happy to announce that we have just published the Catalogue of Life April 2024 online!

The Catalogue of Life contains about 2,16 million accepted species. About 2,01 million are living species, and the rest are extinct. A large community of taxonomists, over 500 experts globally, representing 163 data sources is underpinning this global species list. Although the Catalogue of Life aspires to cover all described extant species, there are still deficiencies for particular taxonomic groups.

A detailed list of source changes can be found in ChecklistBank where you can also view changes between other releases.

What’s new in the April 2024 edition?

Three new global checklists:

  • Annonbase replaced by Annonaceae in World Plants
  • Brassicaceae replaced by Brassicaceae in World Plants
  • Geometridae (Lepidoptera)
  • Pinopsida from WFO Plant List as a replacement for Conifer Database

90 checklists updated:

  • 3i Auchenorrhyncha
  • Alucitoidea (Lepidoptera)
  • Entiminae
  • Gelechiidae (Lepidoptera)
  • GLI (Lepidoptera)
  • ReptileDB
  • RJB Geranium
  • Scarabs
  • Sesiidae (Lepidoptera)
  • SF Aphid
  • SF Chrysididae
  • SF Coreoidea
  • SF Dermaptera
  • SF Embioptera
  • SF Isoptera
  • SF Lygaeoidea
  • SF Mantodea
  • SF Orthoptera
  • SF Phasmida
  • SF Plecoptera
  • SF Psocodea
  • WCO (Opiliones)
  • WOL (Odonata)
  • World Plants
  • WoRMS, 65 checklists
  • WSC (Spiders)

Other changes:

  • FADA Cladocera of Jan 2013 re-synced