Wikispecies is a
wiki
A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...
-based online project supported by the
Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best kno ...
. Its aim is to create a comprehensive
open content catalogue of all
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
; the project is directed at scientists, rather than at the general public.
Jimmy Wales stated that editors are not required to
fax
Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...
in their degrees, but that submissions will have to pass muster with a technical audience.
Wikispecies is available under the
GNU Free Documentation License and
CC BY-SA 3.0.
Started in September 2004, with
biologist
A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...
s around the world invited to contribute, the project had grown a framework encompassing the
Linnaean taxonomy
Linnaean taxonomy can mean either of two related concepts:
# The particular form of biological classification (taxonomy) set up by Carl Linnaeus, as set forth in his ''Systema Naturae'' (1735) and subsequent works. In the taxonomy of Linnaeus t ...
with links to
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
articles on individual species by April 2005.
History
Benedikt Mandl co-ordinated the efforts of several people who are interested in getting involved with the project and contacted potential supporters in early summer 2004. Databases were evaluated and the administrators contacted, some of them have agreed on providing their data for Wikispecies. Mandl defined two major tasks:
# Figure out how the contents of the data base would need to be presented—by asking experts, potential non-professional users and comparing that with existing databases
# Figure out how to do the software, which hardware is required and how to cover the costs—by asking experts, looking for fellow volunteers and potential sponsors
Advantages and disadvantages were widely discussed by the wikimedia-I mailing list. The board of directors of the
Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best kno ...
voted by 4 to 0 in favor of the establishment of Wikispecies. The project was launched in August 2004 and is hosted at species.wikimedia.org. It was officially merged to a sister project of the Wikimedia Foundation on September 14, 2004.
* On October 10, 2006, the project exceeded 75,000 articles.
* On May 20, 2007, the project exceeded 100,000 articles with a total of 5,495 registered users.
* On September 8, 2008, the project exceeded 150,000 articles with a total of 9,224 registered users.
* On October 23, 2011, the project reached 300,000 articles.
* On June 16, 2014, the project reached 400,000 articles.
* On January 7, 2017, the project reached 500,000 articles.
* On October 30, 2018, the project reached 600,000 articles, and a total of 1.12 million pages.
* On December 8, 2019, the project reached 700,000 articles, and a total of 1.33 million pages.
* On January 8, 2021, the project reached 750,000 articles, and a total of 1.5 million pages.
* On April 16, 2022, the project reached 800,000 articles, and a total of 1.67 million pages.
As a database for taxonomy and nomenclature, Wikispecies comprises taxon pages, and additionally pages about synonyms, taxon authorities, taxonomical publications, type material, and institutions or repositories holding type specimen.
Policies
Wikispecies has disabled local upload and asks users to use images from
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...
. Wikispecies does not allow the use of content that does not conform to a free license.
See also
*
All Species Foundation
The All Species Foundation (stylized as ALL Species Foundation) was an organization aiming to catalog all species on Earth by 2025 through their All Species Inventory initiative. The project was launched in 2000 by Kevin Kelly, Stewart Brand an ...
*
Catalogue of Life
The Catalogue of Life is an online database that provides an index of known species of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. It was created in 2001 as a partnership between the global Species 2000 and the American Integrated Taxonomic I ...
*
Encyclopedia of Life
The ''Encyclopedia of Life'' (''EOL'') is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing trusted databases curated by experts and with the assistance of non ...
*
Tree of Life Web Project
The Tree of Life Web Project is an Internet project providing information about the diversity and phylogeny of life on Earth.
This collaborative peer reviewed project began in 1995, and is written by biologists from around the world. The site ...
*
List of online encyclopedias
*
The Plant List
References
External links
*
*
Species Community Portal
*
The Wikispecies Charter, written by Wales.
{{Wikimedia Foundation
Biodiversity databases
Biology websites
Botanical nomenclature
Internet properties established in 2004
Multilingual websites
Phylogenetics
Taxonomy (biology)
Wikimedia projects
Zoological nomenclature
Advertising-free websites