CABI Bioscience (incorporating IMI) maintain, either solely or in association with others, a number of internationally important databases; here you can search these databases.

The Index Fungorum, the world database of fungal names coordinated and supported by the Index Fungorum Partnership, contains names of fungi (including yeasts, lichens, chromistan fungi, protozoan fungi and fossil forms) at species level and below. Funding from GBIF (2003-2004) under the ECAT work programme will enable the addition of all missing author citations and year of publication and the linking of all homotypic names. New names from the Index of Fungi, compiled by CABI Bioscience and published by CABI Publishing, are added every three months.

The Bibliography of Systematic Mycology provides a survey of the literature encompassing the biodiversity, classification, distribution, evolution, identification, nomenclature, phylogeny, systematics and taxonomy of fungi (as defined in the previous paragraph). You can search the database using the index of cited generic names or author names.

The Dictionary of the Fungi (currently 9th edition, 2001) published by CABI Publishing also contains the current consensus on the fungal taxonomic hierarchy to the rank of genus. Here you can search the database for the status of generic names, or walk down the hierarchy from the rank of Kingdom. The entries for each genus generally include authors and place of publication together with the type species (linked to Index Fungorum) and other data. A database of family names which includes authors, place of publication and type genus (linked to the Dictionary of the Fungi hierarchy) is now supplemented by one which contains names at all supra-familial ranks although it is far from completion.

CABI Bioscience is presently coordinating the fungal component of the Species 2000 project and its contribution, in partnership with ITIS, to the Catalogue of Life (currently used in the GBIF portal); for more information regarding this global initiative visit their website. You may search here a small but growing number of taxonomically complete datasets - global species databases. Please contact Paul Kirk if you you would like to contribute.

All these databases need to be improved and updated in terms of data content. Please contact Paul Kirk if you have any additions or suggested changes (which will be acknowledged). The database structures have been developed by Jerry Cooper and Paul Kirk and the web interface by Jerry Cooper. Please contact Jerry Cooper if you have any problems with pages or database searches.

NB. Searching the databases requires 'cookies' to be enabled on your browser.