Catalogue of Life

Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life is a searchable list of species provided by many taxonomic databases.

Description

The Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life is planned to become a comprehensive catalogue of all known species of organisms on Earth by the year 2011.1

The present Catalogue is compiled with sectors provided by 47 taxonomic databases from around the world. Many of these contain taxonomic data and opinions from extensive networks of specialists, so that the complete work contains contributions from more than 3,000 specialists from throughout the taxonomic profession. Species 2000 and ITIS teams peer review databases, select appropriate sectors and integrate the sectors into a single coherent catalogue with a single hierarchical classification.2

The goal is to list every distinct species in each group of organisms. At present, some groups are globally complete, some are represented by global sectors that are nearing completion, and others are represented by partial sectors. The global sectors, whether complete or not, are provided by selected, peer reviewed global species databases in the Species 2000 federation or by equivalent global sectors of ITIS. The partial sectors are supplied principally by ITIS (N America), but also Species Fungorum and the Australian Faunal Directory, with the result that N American species are sometimes the only species represented for these incomplete groups.3

The Catalogue is published as two products:4

• Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist

The Annual Checklist is published each year as a fixed edition that can be cited and used as a common catalogue for comparative purposes by many organisations. A copy is on the CD-ROM, which is distributed free of charge, and an identical copy is on the website at http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2007/. Archived earlier editions are also available on the website.

• Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: Dynamic Checklist

The Dynamic Checklist is a virtual catalogue operated on the Internet and available both for users and as an electronic web-service at www.catalogueoflife.org. The Dynamic Checklist harvests taxonomic sectors and associated strands of hierarchical classification dynamically from the source databases across the internet. The Dynamic Checklist is presently less extensive than the Annual Checklist because fewer taxonomic sectors have been connected so far.

It differs in concept from the Annual Checklist in that:

• the taxonomic records may be updated and the catalogue changed more frequently than in the Annual Checklist and
• the Dynamic Checklist contains additional regional species checklists (such as the Regional Checklist - Europe, effectively a Pan-European Species Checklist) not included in the Annual Checklist.

Functionality of the Annual Checklist5

• Species (and infraspecific taxa) can be located either by searching by name or by tracking down through the hierarchical classification.
• Searching by name can be done using accepted scientific name, synonym or common name. Automatic synonymic and common name indexing takes the user directly to the species under its accepted name. The search can use part names, or be restricted to complete words.
• Tracking down the tree or classification uses accepted names for taxa.
• The structure of the Annual Checklist database has been optimised for performance with the user interface but is not ideal for importing to other systems.

Each species is listed with an accepted scientific name, a cited reference and its family and/or position in the hierarchical classification. Additional common names and synonyms may be provided, but these data are not complete, and for some species none may exist. 6

Species 2000 and ITIS organisations work together to create the Catalogue of Life.

ITIS

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is a partnership of federal agencies and other organisations from the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with data stewards and experts from around the world (see http://www.itis.gov). The ITIS database is an automated reference of scientific and common names of biota of interest to North America. It contains more than 535,000 names for species in all kingdoms.7

Species 2000

Species 2000 (http://www.sp2000.org) is an autonomous federation of taxonomic database custodians, involving taxonomists throughout the world. Its goal is to collate a uniform and validated index to the world's known species. There are two regional programmes: Species 2000 europa (http://www.sp2000europa.org and Species 2000 Asia-Oceania (www.sp2000asiaoceania.org).8

Function

• Taxonomy
• Identification tools, keys
• User interface
• Personal and institutional use
• Raw data and web-based visual presentation

Why use this tool?

For authoritative taxonomic information on common names and scientific names

Who will use this tool?

• Data creation
• Experts - taxonomy
• Data capture
• Curators – specimens, identification
• Data providers
• Institutions
• Private collections
• Casual users
• Data users
• Expert
• Interest groups
• General public
• ALA infrastructure

How will the tool be used?

• Web based online tool
• Results can be exported as an Excel spreadsheet
• User input is required

Where in the data chain could this tool be used?

• Data source
• ALA central – if the Annual Checklist database is used
• User’s machine
• Pathways between these

When could this tool be used?

• Before data is made available to ALA
• While data is stored with ALA
• At the time of a user request

Availability

• Catalogue of Life: http://www.catalogueoflife.org/
• Search: http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/search.php
• Browse taxonomic tree: http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/browse_taxa.php
• Contact: http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/info_contact_us.php
• Copyright Species 2000

Use of the content (such as the classification, synonymic species checklist, and scientific names) for publications and databases by individuals and organisations for not-for-profit usage is encouraged, on condition that full and precise credit is given at three levels on all occasions that records are shown. The three levels credit the complete work, the contributing database of the record, and the expert who provides taxonomic scrutiny of the individual record.9

Comments

An example of a search of Catalogue of Life: Gummy Shark -

http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/search_results.php?search_string=gummy+shark

This is a largely European and American catalogue and its coverage of Australian species is limited.