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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 454,703 articles Wikispecies is free, because life is in the public domain!

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Pholiota squarrosa	Tyrannus melancholicus	Neobisium sylvaticum	Anemone pulsatilla	Human herpesvirus 3 (VZV)

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 Franz Steindachner (1834–1919) An Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Steindachner published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians, and described hundreds of new species of fish and dozens of new amphibians and reptiles. At least seven species of reptile have been named after him. Being interested in natural history, Steindachner took up the study of fossil fishes. In 1860 he was appointed to the position of director of the fish collection at the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, a position which had remained vacant since the death of Johann Jakob Heckel in 1857. Steindachner's reputation as an ichthyologist grew, and in 1868 he was invited by Swiss-born American zoologist Louis Agassiz to accept a position at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. Steindachner took part in the USCSS Hassler Expedition of 1871–1872; a journey that circumnavigated South America from Boston to San Francisco. In 1874 he returned to Vienna, and in 1887 was appointed director of the zoological department of the Naturhistorisches Museum. He was promoted to director of the museum in 1898. He traveled extensively during his career, his research trips taking him throughout the Iberian Peninsula, the Red Sea, the Canary Islands, Senegal, Latin America, and more. From 1875, he was member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences. In 1892 he became a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. See also: Distinguished authors of previous months.

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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