Taxonomic links

Antbase.org

Antbase.org - the Ant Taxonomy Knowledge System - is celebrating its 10th birthday.  It provides a continually updated catalogue of the world's ant species with access to the entire publication records on ant systematic literature.  It is a dedicated database supporting the Ants of Leaf Litter (ALL) Protocol, a platform to support initiatives such as GenBank and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and a test bed for developments in the realm of Digital Libraries and ways to share data.

Included in the database viewer is the first Linnaean reference to an ant, 1758. Click on the page which will take you through to the full reference.   Also see the  the PDF link to Systema Naturae, Hymenoptera section.

Species 2000

Species 2000 is a "federation" of database organisations working closely with users, taxonomists and sponsoring agencies.

The goal of the Species 2000 project is to create a validated checklist of all the world's species (plants, animals, fungi and microbes).  This is being achieved by bringing together an array of global species databases covering each of the major groups of organisms.  Each database covers all known species in the group, using a consistent taxonomic system.  The participating databases are widely distributed throughout the world and currently number 40.  The existing global species databases presently account for some 50% of the total known species, so substantial investment in new databases will be needed for full coverage of all taxa to be achieved. 

The programme in partnership with the Integrated Taxonomic Information system (ITIS) of North America and currently produces the Catalogue of Life  - an Annual Checklist available on the Species 2000 web site and by CD ROM (contact the Secretariat).  This is used by the Global Biodiversity Information facility (GBIF) as the taxonomic backbone to its web portal. 

ZooBank

The ZooBank prototype provides access to 1.5 million scientific names of animals. This prototype is based on Thomson Zoological's "Index of Organism Names", which is the electronic archive of Zoological Record, going back to 1978 (vol. 115). A project to digitise the remaining volumes of Zoological Record back to 1864 (vol. 1), is nearing completion. These names will therefore soon also be available through ZooBank.

The next version of ZooBank, coming later in 2007, will provide an interface for the voluntary submission of animal names. If a mandatory registration system is eventually adopted by the zoological community, it is anticipated that ZooBank will become a complete, authoritative, record of all scientific names of animals.