Welcome to ITIS, the Integrated Taxonomic Information System! Here you will find authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world. We are a partnership of U.S., Canadian, and Mexican agencies (ITIS-North America); other organizations; and taxonomic specialists. ITIS is also a partner of Species 2000 and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). ... [Information of the supplier]
Our objective is to provide free access for all scientists to the old zoological literature, particularly to those important publications where name-bearing zoological taxa were originally described. The literature is digitized in image format by the SUB Göttingen (our university library). In a first 2-year period (2003-2005) financed by the DFG we have digitized nearly all taxonomically relevant zoological literature from the beginnings until 1770 (about 400 works). Only some 5 % of the literature is not present in Göttingen and we are currently trying to obtain some works from other libraries. In a second 2-year-period we will try to cover the period from 1770 to 1800. Monographic works and journal articles shall both be digitized. The AnimalBase database is primarily established to link the old literature with the names of the animals described therein. We have continuously gone through the old works, from 1757 onwards, and entered all correctly described new animal names (genera and species taxa) by hand according to a standard established by our working group. (...) AnimalBase is a service provided by the University of Göttingen, Germany. Our work is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG. This page is under construction and we apologize for things not yet working perfectly. ... [Information of the supplier, modified]
This January 2004 Catalog is more recent than the hardbound printed edition (April, 1998)—a 3-volume set of 2,905 pp. and a CD-ROM (see ordering information). Many errors have been corrected and new additions made in the on-line version. Treated in the "Catalog of Fishes" are about 56,000 described species and subspecies (= species) of fishes, about 10,600 genera and subgenera (= genera) of fishes, and about 21,700 references. Approximately 4,000 of the species names are not available for use because of technical reasons. About 26,000 species are valid ones, and about 25,000 are synonyms. About 200-300 new species are being described each year. Included in the on-line version are all species, genera, and references, along with the classification, introduction, and list of museum abreviations. Other parts of the printed version are not included, such as the interpretation of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (Appendix A), and the species and genera in a classification (which can be simulated with appropriate searches), and Appendix B. This is the first treatment of all described fishes since Linnaeus in 1758. Nearly all original descriptions have been located and examined by one or more of us. Some names not in current use have been found. Many mistakes in current literature are noted. We have also tried to determine the location of type specimens—entering information from available type catalogs, and the first author made visits to many major museums in search of information on types. ... [Information of the supplier]
This digital archive of unique material relating to the society's priceless collections of specimens, manuscripts and letters will enable full global access for investigation allowing researchers to rapidly check details of the specimens on-line, including morphological details and written data. The information is of critical importance to correct naming and identification of specimens. The type specimens represent the original concept of new species, exemplified by the specimens and illustrations used when assigning binomial scientific names, the foundation stones of taxonomy. The Herbarium archive contains all 14,300 Linnaean plant specimens. This first phase of the Insects archive contains the Linnaean and Smithian butterflies and moths only. The remaining insects from the collection will be made available during 2009. The Fish archive contains all the 158 Linnaean fish specimens. ... [Information of the supplier]
Over 5 million bird specimens are housed in North American collections, documenting the composition, distribution, ecology, and systematics of the world's estimated 10,000-16,000 bird species. Millions of additional observational records are held in diverse data sets. ORNIS addresses the urgent call for increased access to these data in an open and collaborative manner, and involves development of a suite of online software tools for data analysis and error-checking. This project, funded by the National Science Foundation, expands on existing infrastructure developed for distributed mammal (MaNIS), amphibian and reptile (HerpNet), and fish (FishNet) databases. ... [Information of the supplier]
HerpNET is a collaborative effort by natural history museums to establish a global network of herpetological collections data, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF No. 0132303) and a GBIF DIGIT grant. The mission of HerpNET is to bring the accumulated knowledge from more than four million specimens in world-wide museum collections into currency for science and society by creating a distributed database with access from various portals. HerpNET will connect large repositories of information with smaller collections that have regional specializations. ... [Information of the supplier]
This site merges the book A Guide to Field Guides: Identifying the Natural History of North America by Diane Schmidt, Biology Librarian at the University of Illinois, and its companion Web site International Field Guides. After the publisher returned copyright to the book, the author decided to combine the two products and create a searchable database of field guides for plants, animals, and other objects in North America and around the world. Except where noted, all guides listed here were personally examined by the author. As used in this site, a field guide is a small, lightweight book used to identify plants, animals, or other objects. It is designed to be used outdoors and usually contains many illustrations, whether drawings or photographs, and limited text. Generally speaking, field guides are used by amateurs, hence the emphasis on visual identification. There are a number of different technical manuals, atlases, floras and faunas, handbooks, and keys for the use of professionals which are not listed here. ... [Information of the supplier]
Crustacea.net is a website which publishes electronic monographs (interactive identification and information retrieval systems) on crustaceans at any taxonomic level. These monographs are prepared using the DELTA system and include illustrated, interactive keys to each group, plus diagnoses, descriptions and illustrations of each taxon in the group. ... [Information of the supplier]
The New York Botanical Garden American Bryophyte Catalog is a project to catalog all the specimens of bryophytes in The New York Botanical Garden Herbarium from the western hemisphere. Phase I resulted in an electronic catalog of approximately 250,000 bryophyte specimens from Canada, Greenland and the United States, which are available for searching from this page. Phase II: Bryophytes of Central America, Mexico and the West Indies, is nearing completion. Phase III will complete the project by cataloging specimens from South America (approximately 140,000). When completed, the American Bryophyte Catalog, which will consist of approximately 500,000 specimen records. This total will represent 75% of the NYBG's holdings of bryophyte specimens. ... [Information of the supplier]
The HLK Whitehouse Bryophyte Stereo Image Library provides stereo bryophyte images taken by Harold Whitehouse (together with some by his wife) using a special camera. Details of the camera and stereo-photographic techniques can be found in the article "Stereoscopic Photography of Bryophytes" he wrote in the Bryological Times. During the last 30 years of his life he took thousands of photographs, mainly in the British Isles, but also in Continental Europe, Canada, New Zealand and the Pacific. By the time of his death in 2000 he had photographed approximately 80% of the British bryophyte flora. His collection of slides passed to the BBS and thence to National Museum Wales, in Cardiff. The slides were originally designed to be viewed using a hand-held viewer. Almost all species have a left and right image displayed side by side for fusion into a stereo image by those who are able to cross their eyes at will. There are also anaglyphic images to be viewed with red/green spectacles, with the image for the left eye being red, and for the right eye being green. ... [Information of the supplier, modified]
