Main Page

Welcome to Wikispecies The free species directory that anyone can edit. It covers Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Bacteria, Archaea, Protista and all other forms of life. So far we have 412,777 articles Wikispecies is free, because life is in the public domain!

Taxon Navigation Superregnum Archaea Superregnum Bacteria Superregnum Eukaryota Regnum Protista Regnum Fungi Regnum Plantae Regnum Animalia Virus (classification still unclear)

Sphodromantis lineola	Vampyressa pusilla	Korarchaeota	Ocimum basilicum	Fonsecaea pedrosoi

Explore Wikispecies HELP Section -- Detailed information on creating pages. Taxonomy -- Information on the Linnaean classification of species. Village Pump -- Discuss the project. Done and To Do -- See references to very detailed areas and defined future targets Wikispecies FAQ -- Check replies to common concerns. Image Guidelines -- Our recommendation on where to upload illustrations Wikispecies PR -- Help us by spreading the word of Wikispecies Collaboration with ZooKeys A collaboration between Wikispecies and ZooKeys has been announced. PhytoKeys also joined the collaboration in November 2010. Images of species from ZooKeys and PhytoKeys will be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons and used in Wikispecies. Distinguished Author José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage   (1823–1907). A Portuguese zoologist and politician. He was the curator of Zoology at the Museum of Natural History in Lisbon. His work at the Museum consisted in acquiring, describing and coordinating collections, many of which arrived from the Portuguese colonies in Africa, such as Angola, Mozambique, etc. He published more than 200 taxonomic papers on mammals, birds, and fishes. In the 1880s he became the Minister of the Navy and later the Minister for Foreign Affairs for Portugal. The zoology collection at the Lisbon Museum is called the Bocage Museum in his honor. He was responsible for identifying many new species, which he named according to the naturalist who found them.

Species of the week Marbled polecat Vormela peregusna Some facts about this mammal: Body length: 27–38 cm. Tail length: 12–22 cm. Weight: 260–520 grams. Habitat: Dry open spaces; sometimes found in bushes and forest edges of semi-arid areas. Distribution: From southeast Europe to Russia and China. Diet: Chiefly feeds on rodents, occasionally on small birds, lizards, fish, frogs, snails, and insects. Surviving number: Unknown. Conservation status: Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1) First described: By the German naturalist and explorer Johann Anton Güldenstädt in 1770, originally named as Mustela peregusna. Vormela peregusna wears a very special perfume: when it is threatened, it throws its head back, displays its coloring and emits a noxious defensive odor. If all this doesn't have the desired effect, it just drops down and plays dead. This elusive hunter employs offensive strategies as well, such as approaching and attacking from the side. By using such techniques, it can overcome pray larger than itself during its forays at dusk, dawn, and throughout the night. The marbled polecat has nevertheless more trouble than it can handle in one realm: its steppe habitat is shrinking in Europe and Asia making this species status vulnerable.

Wikispecies is run by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, which operates several other multilingual and free-content projects: Meta-Wiki Coordination of all Wikimedia projects Wikipedia The free encyclopedia Commons Shared media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus Wikisource The free library Wikinews Free content news source Wikiversity Free content learning materials Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikivoyage Open travel guide