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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 446,319 articles Wikispecies is free, because life is in the public domain!

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Cotula leptalea	Apophysomyces variabilis	Plasmodium falciparum	Thayeria boehlkei	Aspergillus oryzae

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 Johan Christian Fabricius (1745–1808) A Danish zoologist, specialising in entomology. He was a student of Carolus Linnaeus in Uppsala (Sweden), and then appointed a professor at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) as well as the University of Kiel (officially Germany, but ruled by the Danish king through a personal union). Fabricius is considered one of the most important entomologists of the 18th century, having named 9,776 species of animals, and established the basis for the modern insect classification. He added two distinct areas to the classification system: both artificial and natural characteristics. Artificial characteristics allowed for the determination of a species, and natural characteristics for the relationship to other genera and varieties. Much of his system still remains the basis of modern insect classification. Towards the end of his career Fabricius spent much of his time living in Paris, where he frequently met with naturalists such as Georges Cuvier and Pierre André Latreille.

Species of the month Reindeer & Caribou Rangifer tarandus Photo: Rangifer tarandus tarandus, Kvaløya, Norway Some facts about this mammal: Body length: ♂ 180–214 cm, ♀ 162–205 cm. Tail length: 14–20 cm. Weight: ♂ 160–200 kg, ♀ 80–120 kg. Habitat: Tundra and open taiga forest. Distribution: Holarctic, mainly north of 58°N (locally south to 48°N), to the limits of land at 83°N. Diet: Chiefly feeds on lichens, occasionally on grass and other herbs, and fungi. Surviving number: Several million. Conservation status: Least Concern; some subspecies threatened, one extinct. First described: By Linnaeus in 1758, originally named as Cervus tarandus. Rangifer tarandus is a keystone species in arctic and subarctic regions right round the far north of the globe, and the most abundant large mammal of this region. It is unusual among deer in that both sexes have antlers, thought to be an adaptation to winter snow, where the antlers are used to break through the snow crust to gain access to buried food. Wild herds still range widely, but the species is also farmed in many regions, notably in northern Scandinavia and parts of Russia and Mongolia. The farmed herds retain a large part of their natural behaviour, including migration routes, with the attendant herders travelling with their herds. As expected for such a large range, the species is divided into many subspecies; 14 are currently accepted by Mammal Species of the World. Those in Europe and Asia are known in English as Reindeer, and those in North America as Caribou. Ecologically, the main differences within the species correlate more with habitat and latitude than continent, with two main groups, one in the arctic tundra, the other in subarctic taiga forests. Intergradation between the two is however extensive. Evidence for a an additional type of Reindeer rudolphi, distinguished by a red nose, has often been claimed (and even illustrated), but hard scientific evidence for its existence is lacking. Reports typically associate it with sledge transport & goods delivery systems in late December. See also: Species of previous months

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