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Species 2000 and the Integrated Taxonomic Information
System (ITIS) are involving taxonomists throughout
the world in the Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue
of Life (CoL) programme, collating a uniform and validated
index to the world's known species, for use as a practical
tool in inventorying and monitoring biodiversity worldwide.
The index can be used to provide:
- electronic baseline species lists for use in inventorying
projects worldwide;
- an index for an Internet gateway to species databases
worldwide, as provided through GBIF;
- a reference system for comparison between inventories;
- comprehensive worldwide catalogue for checking
the status, classification and naming of species.
This is a work in progress, now covering nearly one-third
of the world's species. The Catalogue is available
on-line as a prototype Dynamic Checklist and also
as a yearly edition (the Annual Checklist), which
is available on CD-ROM as well as on the Internet.
This comprehensive index of all known plants, animals,
fungi and micro-organisms is being achieved by accessing
a distributed array of taxonomic databases.
About 1.75 million species of plants, animals, fungi
and micro-organisms are 'known' in the sense that
they have been described and named by taxonomists.
Existing taxonomic database projects cover about 40%
of known species. Major resources are needed to establish
indexes for the remaining groups. The CoL programme
aims to stimulate completion of the array of taxonomic
databases. It seeks resources both to support the
completion of the existing databases, and to help
establish new databases in different countries.
Member databases of Species 2000 and ITIS are working
together to produce the CoL, and are working closely
with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility
(GBIF). The CoL plays a significant role as the species
index in the GBIF portal (www.gbif.net).
This fifth release of the Annual Checklist contains
a searchable database with information on the scientific
names and synonyms of more than 527,000 of the world's
species and 41,000 infraspecific taxa in the groups
listed below. Common names and geographic distributions
are given for many but not yet all of these species.
The management classification for arranging all these
data is provided by ITIS above the node of attachment
of each database. Beneath such nodes, the classification
is provided by that database.
Viruses •
Virus species from ICTVdB (the Universal Virus Database)
Microorganisms and algae •
Bacteria and Archaea from BIOS
• Seaweeds and other
algae incl. Cyanobacteria from AlgaeBase
Fungi •
11 orders in whole or in part from CABI Species Fungorum
Animals •
Fishes from FishBase
• Ants, birds, turtles,
crocodiles, isopods, hydrozoan stony corals, and small
groups of mammals, amphibians, molluscs, and crustaceans
from ITIS
• Scarabaeid beetles
from the World Scarabaeidae Database
• Longicorn beetles
from TITAN
• Scale insects
from ScaleNet
• Fleas from Parhost
• Flies, craneflies,
mosquitoes, bots, midges and gnats from BioSystematic
Database of World Diptera, Catalogue of Craneflies
of the World, CIPA and ITIS
• Clothes-moths
from Global Tineidae Moth Database
• Crickets, grasshoppers,
locusts, and katydids from the Orthoptera Species
File Online
• Spiders from World
Spider Catalog
• Krill from ETI's
Euphausiids of the World Ocean database
• Cephalopods (octopus,
squid, cuttlefish and nautilus) from CephBase
• Marine invertebrates
(12 phyla, 5 classes and 4 orders) and chordates (4
classes) from the UNESCO-IOC Register of Marine Organisms
• Sea anemones from
Hexacorallians of the World
• Snails and slugs
(some groups) from Australian Faunal Directory and
ITIS
Plants •
Mosses from Moss TROPICOS
• Cycads, eucalypts
and 4 other angiosperm families from the IOPI Global
Plant Checklist
• Legumes from the
ILDIS World Database of Legumes
• Seagrasses from
AlgaeBase
PLUS additional species from ITIS, CABI Species
Fungorum and the Australian Faunal Directory.
 The
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is
a partnership of numerous organizations from the United
States, Canada, and Mexico, and data stewards and
experts from around the world (see http://www.itis.usda.gov,
http//www.cbif.gc.ca/itis
and http://siit.conabio.gob.mx).
ITIS is part of the US National Biological Information
Infrastructure (http://www.nbii.gov).
The ITIS database is an automated reference of scientific
and common names of biota of interest to North America.
ITIS places priority on North American species, but
also includes global and New World treatments for
many groups of biota. The database contains more than
400,000 scientific and common names for species in
all kingdoms, using a standard classification (the
higher levels of which are used as the management
classification for the CoL database). Each scientific
name is assigned a unique numerical identifier called
a Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN). The ITIS database
is accessible via the World Wide Web in English, French,
Spanish, and Portuguese (http://itis.gbif.net).
 Species
2000 (http://www.sp2000.org)
is an autonomous federation of taxonomic database
custodians, involving taxonomists throughout the world
in collating a uniform and validated index to the
world's known species. Species 2000 is a not-for-profit
company limited by guarantee (Registered in England
No. 3479405) with five directors and with taxonomic
database organisations from around the world as members.
Species 2000 europa, a project (http://www.sp2000europa.org)
funded by the European Commission, aims to link databases
in Europe as a regional resource and to provide additional
information to the global Catalogue of Life.
Species 2000 Asia-Oceania (http://www.sp2000ao.nies.go.jp)
works to promote databases and other taxonomic activities
in that region and to provide additional information
to the global CoL.
The Catalogue of Life is being formed by linking
individual taxonomic databases to form a virtual on-line
Dynamic Checklist (prototype currently online), as
well as an Annual Checklist produced annually and
available on CD-ROM and online. In the Dynamic Checklist
information is retrieved from the individual Global
Species Databases (GSDs) in real time, whilst in the
Annual Checklist the standard data for each species
have been extracted from the individual databases
(both GSDs and regional datasets) and imported into
a single database to provide a static annual version
of the CoL.
Global Species Databases (GSDs) contributing to the
CoL aspire to the following properties:
- Cover one taxon worldwide
- Contain a taxonomic checklist of all species within
that taxon
- Deal with species as taxa, and contain synonymy
and taxonomic opinion
- Have an explicit mechanism for seeking at least
one responsible/consensus taxonomy, and for applying
it consistently
- Cross-index significant alternative taxonomies
in their synonymy.
Other taxonomic databases are providing regional
coverage for groups not yet covered globally in the
Annual Checklist, or regional information linked to
the global taxonomic backbone. For the Dynamic Checklist,
linking software and procedures for this are currently
being developed.
The data in this Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue
of Life: 2005 Annual Checklist have been provided
by a range of database organisations [list
of source databases]. The datasets result from
collaboration and editing by many expert taxonomists,
whose names are found in the datasets themselves.
The Catalogue of Life partners are keen to contact
the custodians of all other GSDs covering any group
of organisms worldwide, as well as major regional
databases.
The Catalogue of Life (CoL) delivers a standard set
of data for every known species. These data are drawn
from an array of participating taxonomic databases.
Currently, the majority of these sources are the appropriate
Global Species Databases (GSDs) - that is, databases
containing worldwide coverage of all the species within
one taxon. GSDs are not available for all taxa, so
some sources are Regional Species Databases (RSDs).
The Australian Faunal Directory, the Integrated Taxonomic
Information Service (ITIS) and Species Fungorum are
unusual in that they supply the Catalogue of Life
with some taxonomic sectors of GSD status as well
as regional datasets (RSDs) for other groups. Below,
we use the name 'Source Database' for both GSD and
RSD.
Species 2000 has defined ten field groups to be the
standard set of data for each species (or infraspecific
taxon if present).
1. Accepted Scientific Name linked to References
(obligatory)
2. Synonym(s) linked to Reference(s) (obligatory,
as appropriate)
3. Common Name(s) linked to Reference(s)
(optional)
4. Latest taxonomic scrutiny (obligatory)
5. Source Database (obligatory)
6. Additional Data (optional)
7. Family name (obligatory)
8. Classification above family, and highest taxon
(obligatory, as appropriate)
9. Distribution (optional)
10. Reference(s)
Some of the source databases additionally supply
subspecies or varieties. The same dataset is used
for each of these. Currently, Source Databases provide
all of the obligatory field groups but not all of
them provide the optional field groups.
Additional information will be available either within
the appropriate Source Database, or through hyperlinks
to other databases.
1. Accepted Scientific Name
The Accepted, Valid or Correct scientific name (terminology
for this name varies between the Codes of Nomenclature;
in the CoL we use the term 'Accepted') is that currently
accepted for the species or infraspecific taxon (subspecies
or variety). Two variants of NameStatus are possible
in databases: 'Accepted name' or 'Provisionally accepted
name'.
'Accepted name' is the name currently accepted
for the species by the compiler or editor of the dataset
as a quality taxonomic opinion.
'Provisionally accepted name' is the name currently
accepted for the species by the dataset compiler,
but with some element of taxonomic or nomenclatural
doubt.
Style of author-string depends on nomenclatural traditions
for different phyla.
In the case of Virus Names, the genus is placed in
the Genus field, and the polynomial species name is
placed in the SpecificEpithet field. Virus species
names have no official author.
At least one reference is given. It may be the original
(validating) publication of the taxon name or new
name combination - Nomenclatural Reference (defined
below) - or one or more references that accept this
species in the same taxonomic status, and with the
same name - Taxonomic Acceptance Reference(s).
2. Synonym(s)
The list of Synonyms can include from 0 to many species
or infraspecific names, which are given a Species
2000 synonymic status (NameStatus). The three possibilities
below give the information sufficient for clear synonymic
indexing, but do not give the full nomenclatural details,
as these differ markedly in structure and context
across different phyla. It is therefore necessary
to 'translate' the very varied sorts of synonymic
status in the source databases to create a uniform,
accurate, but broad set of synonymic links for use
in the Catalogue of Life.
Category A: List of "Synonyms" -
names which point unambiguously at one species
Category B: List of "Ambiguous synonyms"
- names which are ambiguous because they point at
the current species and one or more others e.g. homonyms,
pro-parte synonyms
Category C: List of "Misapplied names"
- names that have been wrongly applied to the current
species, and may also be correctly applied to another
species.
3. Common Name(s)
There can be 0 to many Common Names, since some species
have many common names while others have none. Some
contributing GSDs contain no common names. Species
2000 is adding extra common names from widely used
reference lists. The language of the common name is
given, as is the country in which a common name is
used if known.
4. Latest taxonomic scrutiny
This cites the latest taxonomic scrutiny (name of
taxonomist and date) of this species record in the
source database.
5. Source Database
This information is shown as part of every record
in the CoL, and is visible under the heading 'Source
databases'. It is provided by the source database
and includes the database name (in full and abbreviated),
version and/or date of release, the taxon covered
by the database, and authors, custodians and editors
as appropriate.
6. Additional Data
This optional field contains free text up to 255
characters. It can contain information from one or
several data fields from the source database (for
example, type specimen or strain, common name of family,
habit/life form, ecology, uses) as decided by the
custodian of the source database. Unlike all other
field groups, there is no intention to make these
data compatible across taxa. It is therefore distinctive
or particular to the species supplied by one database.
7. Family name
This field should contain one valid Latin name of
the Family to which the Source Database believes this
species belongs. If the Family is not known (e.g.
genera labelled incertae sedis in taxonomic treatments)
then this is stated.
8. Classification above family
and highest taxon
The Catalogue of Life uses a single taxonomic classification
(also called a hierarchy or tree) for management purposes
- the management classification. This management classification
includes taxa of five basic ranks only: Kingdom
- Division (Phylum) - Class - Order - Family.
Superfamily is also used for some insect groups.
The present choice is the classification provided
by ITIS (http://www.itis.usda.gov;
http//www.cbif.gc.ca/itis;
http://siit.conabio.gob.mx).
Future technical developments should make it feasible
to display alternative classifications for the same
species checklists.
This classification is used above the node
of attachment of each database. Beneath this
node, the classification provided by the GSD is used.
The taxonomic rank of the highest taxon at this attachment
node varies from one GSD to another (e.g. sectors
of AlgaeBase are attached as phyla; ILDIS World Database
of Legumes is attached as one family).
9. Distribution
This optional list of geographic records can contain
from 0 to many areas. Distribution information is
currently in various forms in source databases, and
absent from some.
Level 4 (Basic Recording Units) of the TDWG World
Geographical Scheme, Edition 2 (2001) is used by some
source databases (and is recommended) for terrestrial
and freshwater organisms (http://www.tdwg.org/TDWG_geo2.pdf).
In future we aim to adopt a suitable standard for
marine areas.
Occurrence status (native, naturalised, etc.) is
not given in many source databases. If being used,
the TDWG Plant Occurrence and Status Scheme (1998)
is recommended as the standard for recording Occurrence
Status (http://www.tdwg.org/poss_standard.html).
10. Reference(s)
References are linked to accepted scientific names,
synonyms and common names. The reference type is defined
as follows:
- Nomenclatural Reference (just one reference which
contains the original (validating) publication of
taxon name or new name combination or
- Taxonomic Acceptance Reference(s) (one or more
bibliographic references that accept this species
in the same taxonomic status, and with the same
name) or
- Common Name Reference(s) (one or more bibliographic
references that contain common names).
Refer to FA Bisby & YR Roskov, Species 2000 Baseline
Documents: Standard Dataset, version 3.2 (December
2004), available at http://www.sp2000.org
for more detailed information.
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