Main Page

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 755,982 articles Wikispecies is free, because life is in the public domain! You can also check us out on Twitter: @Wikispecies or use the Android app sponsored by Wikimedia. We also have an IRC Channel #wikispeciesconnect

Taxon Navigation Superregnum Archaea Superregnum Bacteria Superregnum Eukaryota Regnum Protista Regnum Fungi Regnum Plantae Regnum Animalia Virus (classification still unclear)

Michotamia aurata	Heliconia angusta	Balistapus undulatus	Chroicocephalus ridibundus
Aepyceros melampus	Phyllidia varicosa	Pelomyxa palustris	Agama sinaita

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 Mary Agnes Chase 1869–1963. Standard IPNI form: Chase Mary Agnes Chase, née Merrill, was an American botanist who worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Smithsonian Institution. She is considered one of the world's outstanding agrostologists and is known for her work on the study of grasses, and also for her work as a suffragist. Chase was born in Iroquois County, Illinois and held no formal education beyond grammar school. That aside, she made significant contributions to the field of botany, authored over 70 scientific publications, and was conferred with an honorary doctorate in science from the University of Illinois. She specialized in the study of grasses and conducted extensive field work in North- as well as and South America. Her Smithsonian Field Books collection from 1897 to 1959 is archived in the Smithsonian Institution Archives. In 1901, Chase became a botanical assistant at the Field Museum of Natural History under Charles Frederick Millspaugh, where her work was featured in two museum publications: Plantae Utowanae (1900) and Plantae Yucatanae (1904). Two years later, Chase joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a botanical illustrator and eventually became a scientific assistant in systematic agrostology (1907), assistant botanist (1923), and associate botanist (1925), all under Albert Spear Hitchcock. Chase worked with Hitchcock for almost twenty years, collaborating closely and also publishing, for instance The North American Species of Panicum (1910). Following Hitchcock's death in 1936, Chase succeeded him to become senior botanist in charge of systematic agrostology and custodian of the Section of Grasses, Division of Plants at the United States National Museum (USNM). Chase retired from the USDA in 1939, but continued her work as custodian of the USNM grass herbarium until her death in 1963. She was an Honorary Fellow of the Smithsonian Institution (1959) and Fellow of the Linnean Society of London (1961). Agnesia is named in her honour (a monotypic genus of herbaceous South American bamboo in the grass family). Chase experienced discrimination based on her gender in the scientific field, for example, being excluded from expeditions to Panama in 1911 and 1912 because the expedition's benefactors feared the presence of women researchers would distract men. During World War I, Chase marched with Alice Paul and was jailed several times for her activities. In 1918, she was arrested at the Silent Sentinels rally picketing the White House; she refused bail and was held for 10 days, where she instigated a hunger-strike and was force-fed. The USDA accused her of "conduct unbecoming a government employee," but Hitchcock helped her keep her job. Chase was also an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). See also: Distinguished authors of previous months.

Species of the month Yangtze giant softshell turtle Rafetus swinhoei (Gray) 1873. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) 12: 156–161 Some facts about this turtle: Distribution: The Yangtze giant softshell turtle has been known to inhabit the Yangtze River and Lake Tai, situated on the border of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces, in eastern China, and Gejiu, Yuanyang, Jianshui and Honghe in Yunnan Province in southern China. Protection status: Critically Edangered. Etymology: Named after English biologist Robert Swinhoe who sent the first specimens to the author This critically endangered species holds the title of being the largest freshwater turtle in the world. The Yangtze giant softshell turtle is on the brink of extinction due to habitat loss, hunting for subsistence and local consumption, and the use of the carapace and bones in alternative medicine. Skulls are often kept as trophies. Conservation efforts are concentrated on breeding captive turtles in China and searching for live specimens in the wild. An agreement was made to transfer the only known remaining female specimen located at the Changsha Zoo to the Suzhou Zoo to breed with the male specimen there. Also, efforts are being made to improve conditions for breeding at both the Suzhou Zoo and Western Temple in Suzhou.

Wikispecies in other languages العربية ئۇيغۇرچە الدارجة Afrikaans Alemannisch Aragonés অসমীয়া Asturianu Azərbaycanca Bahasa Indonesia Bahasa Melayu بلوچی Български বাংলা Беларуская Boarisch Bosanski Brezhoneg Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Ἑλληνική English Ænglisc Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Føroyskt Français Galego ქართული 廣東話 한국어 עברית हिन्दी Հայերեն Hrvatski Interlingua Íslenska Italiano Jawa қазақша Кыргызча Magyar Mirandés Македонски मराठी молдовеняскэ Neadersassisk Nederlands नेपाली 日本語 Nordfriisk Norsk bokmål Nynorsk Нохчийн ଓଡ଼ିଆ Occitan Polski Português Ripoarisch/Kölsch Română Runa Simi Русский Sardu Scots Shqip සිංහල Sicilianu Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски Srpski Sunda Suomi Svenska Tagalog Тоҷикӣ தமிழ் ไทย Tiếng Việt Türkçe Українська Veneto Volapük ייִדיש Zazaki 简体中文 正體中文

Wikispecies is hosted by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, along with several other multilingual and free-content projects: Meta-Wiki Coordination of all Wikimedia projects Wikipedia The free encyclopedia Commons Free media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikiquote Free collection of quotations Wiktionary Free dictionary and thesaurus Wikisource The free library Wikinews Free content news source Wikiversity Free learning resources Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikivoyage Free travel guide MediaWiki Free wiki software