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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 346,524 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)

Bos grunniens	Aethaloessa calidalis	Aurelia aurita	Zaprora silenus	Cigaritis cilissa on Eryngium creticum

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 Giant Amazonian Water Lily Victoria amazonica Victoria amazonica Some facts on this lily: Leaf diameter: Up to 3 m. Range: Amazon River basin, Brasil. First described: By the German botanist, zoologist and explorer Eduard Friedrich Poeppig in 1836, who originally named it Euryale amazonica. Can you imagine a single plant-leaf that can support a weight of 60 kg.? A leaf of Victoria amazonica easily can. This plant has huge floating circular leaves with upturned rims which are anchored to the river bottom by long stalks arising from an underground mud-buried stem. The leaves start their growth as spiny heads but expand rapidly up to half a square meter per day. The purplish red under-surface has a network of ribs clad in abundant sharp thorns to defend against herbivorous fishes and manatees. Air trapped in the spaces between the ribs gives the leaves their tremendous buoyancy. In a single season, each plant produces between 40 and 50 leaves, which cover the water surface and prevent light from reaching down, thus restricting the growth of most other plants and algae. Flowers bloom during only two days and change color when pollinated from white to a pinky purple in a symphony of colors. Victoria amazonica was first named Victoria regia after Queen Victoria of England and later on changed to Amazonica to reflect its Amazonia origin.

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