Reference library · Living world · Cross-disciplinary
Biological names & occurrences
These resources sit underneath every biological branch. Some help you reach a candidate from photographs or sound; others resolve an accepted name or show where supporting records exist. They are deliberately kept together because those are different operations. A community suggestion can guide the search, a nomenclatural backbone can settle spelling and synonymy, and an occurrence map can test plausibility — but none of those, alone, verifies the organism in front of you.
A name match, computer-vision suggestion or mapped occurrence is not an identification. Aggregators inherit errors and uneven collecting effort from their source datasets, while accepted-name services do not inspect your evidence at all. Use these resources to generate and normalise a candidate, then support the determination with diagnostic characters, a specialist key, an expert opinion, a voucher or an appropriate sequence. Record which release, dataset and access date you used when the result matters.
Before you reach for an atlas
Record the characters first.
Matching a photograph against a memory is how misidentifications happen. Working through
these in order gives you a description that someone else can check — and that stays
useful even if the determination later changes.
The evidence itself
Keep the original images, sounds, measurements or specimen details separate from the proposed name.
An identification should remain replaceable without rewriting what was observed. Preserve full-resolution files, scale, views, collection method and any field notes before consulting a matching service.
Place and time
Record date, locality precision, habitat and whether the organism was captive, planted or introduced.
Occurrence maps are useful only when the observation context is comparable. Absence from an aggregator may reflect sparse recording, while presence nearby makes a candidate plausible but never proves it.
Diagnostic characters
Write down the characters that support the candidate and the lookalikes you excluded.
A visual resemblance is a lead. Note which structures, measurements, calls or behaviours carry the determination, and which required characters are absent or unresolved.
Name and source
Record the name exactly as returned, its identifier, source and release or access date.
Different backbones can legitimately use different treatments. Keeping the source identifier and date lets a later reviewer reconstruct why that name was used.
These are the observations. Standards covers the vocabularies
that carry them into a record — including Darwin Core for biological occurrences,
REMBI and OME for imaging, and ABCD-EFG for geological material — while each observation
profile records its own method-specific context. Prepare a
contribution covers what to keep alongside the files themselves.
Resources
Grouped by the question you are asking.
A resource can appear under more than one heading. Each entry states who maintains it,
what it is best for, and where it stops being reliable.
Nothing here matches that.
Clear the filter, or search the whole library from the library index.
Compare against reference evidence
Atlases, catalogues and reference collections for comparing an unknown with documented material or measurements.
Atlas of Living Australia — Biodiversity Information Explorer
Atlas of Living Australia, hosted by CSIRO and supported by Australia's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy
Australia's national biodiversity discovery layer, joining names, descriptions, images, maps, records and specialist sources.
Best for
An Australian first pass: finding the relevant national flora, fauna list, collection record or identification resource and checking regional plausibility.
Limits
It aggregates records of differing quality and taxonomic age. Citizen-science records need source-level scrutiny, sensitive localities may be generalised, and absence from the map does not establish absence in nature.
Coverage
Australia and its territories across the living world, with links to global and regional sources.
Reuse
ALA site material is generally CC BY 3.0 Australia; occurrence records and media retain the licence stated by each provider.
Contributing
Browsing is open. An account is required for contributions and some personalised services.
For Australian observations, use ALA as a route into the specialist source rather than stopping at the aggregated species page.
iNaturalist, an independent nonprofit organisation, and its contributor community
A professionally operated global observation platform combining photo and sound suggestions with visible community identifications and discussion.
Best for
Generating candidates, finding identifiers who know the group, and seeing which visible characters changed a community determination.
Limits
Computer vision and community consensus are evidence, not authority. Geographic, seasonal and observer biases affect suggestions; 'research grade' describes a platform state rather than independent verification, and difficult taxa still require specialist characters.
Coverage
Global, all observable living groups; strongest where the community and training data are dense.
Reuse
Observation data and media use contributor-selected licences; check each item before reuse. Platform code and exported datasets have separate terms.
Contributing
A free account is required to post observations, add identifications or participate in discussion.
Use it to open an identification, not to close one. Preserve the suggested taxon, identifiers' comments and later changes as part of the determination history.
Biodiversity Heritage Library international consortium of natural-history, botanical, research and national libraries
The world's largest open-access digital library of biodiversity literature and archives, with scientific-name indexing across historic and modern works.
Best for
Finding original species descriptions, monographs, plates, historic observations and the literature behind a taxonomic claim.
Limits
Much of the collection is historical: names, ranges, language and scientific conclusions may be outdated, and optical character recognition can misread names. A digitised page is a source to interpret, not a current determination.
Coverage
Global biodiversity literature from the fifteenth century to the present, with holdings determined by contributing libraries and rights availability.
Reuse
Metadata is CC0. Public-domain works remain public domain; in-copyright items and images carry the rights statement shown on the item.
Its taxonomic name finder is an unusually effective bridge from an accepted name to the literature and illustrations that established or revised it.
Data repository Open API Research pass ·
Resolve the name or identifier
Authorities that settle an accepted biological or mineral name, astronomical designation or other stable identifier.
Catalogue of Life partnership, Species 2000 and contributing taxonomic specialists
A global checklist joining expert taxonomic sources across the living world, with accepted names, synonyms and classification.
Best for
Normalising a proposed name across kingdoms and tracing the specialist source from which the treatment came.
Limits
Completeness and update cadence differ among taxonomic groups. The Extended Release is broader but less uniformly scrutinised than the expert-vetted Base Release, and neither identifies a specimen or observation.
Coverage
Global; animals, plants, fungi, prokaryotes and other living groups, with source-dependent coverage.
Reuse
CC BY 4.0 for Catalogue of Life releases unless a contributing source states otherwise.
Prefer the Base Release when you need the most consistently reviewed backbone; use the Extended Release when breadth matters, and retain the release name in your record.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility species and occurrence infrastructure
Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat and participating data publishers
An international taxonomic backbone connected to specimen, survey and citizen-science occurrence records and their source datasets.
Best for
Checking synonymy, geographic plausibility and the provenance of published occurrence evidence.
Limits
The backbone is a synthetic working taxonomy rather than the final authority for disputed names. Occurrence data can contain errors, duplicates and geographic or collecting bias; a point on the map is not proof of identity or true range.
Coverage
Global, all taxa; coverage and record quality vary greatly by region and source.
Reuse
Each occurrence dataset and media item carries its own CC0, CC BY or CC BY-NC licence; check the source record before reuse.
Contributing
Browsing and API access are open. An account is required for mediated downloads and publishing occurs through recognised data publishers, not by adding a record directly to GBIF.
Follow a record back to its dataset and institution. GBIF is most useful when it reveals the evidence chain, not when its map is treated as an answer.
Atlas of Living Australia — Biodiversity Information Explorer
Atlas of Living Australia, hosted by CSIRO and supported by Australia's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy
Australia's national biodiversity discovery layer, joining names, descriptions, images, maps, records and specialist sources.
Best for
An Australian first pass: finding the relevant national flora, fauna list, collection record or identification resource and checking regional plausibility.
Limits
It aggregates records of differing quality and taxonomic age. Citizen-science records need source-level scrutiny, sensitive localities may be generalised, and absence from the map does not establish absence in nature.
Coverage
Australia and its territories across the living world, with links to global and regional sources.
Reuse
ALA site material is generally CC BY 3.0 Australia; occurrence records and media retain the licence stated by each provider.
Contributing
Browsing is open. An account is required for contributions and some personalised services.
For Australian observations, use ALA as a route into the specialist source rather than stopping at the aggregated species page.
iNaturalist, an independent nonprofit organisation, and its contributor community
A professionally operated global observation platform combining photo and sound suggestions with visible community identifications and discussion.
Best for
Generating candidates, finding identifiers who know the group, and seeing which visible characters changed a community determination.
Limits
Computer vision and community consensus are evidence, not authority. Geographic, seasonal and observer biases affect suggestions; 'research grade' describes a platform state rather than independent verification, and difficult taxa still require specialist characters.
Coverage
Global, all observable living groups; strongest where the community and training data are dense.
Reuse
Observation data and media use contributor-selected licences; check each item before reuse. Platform code and exported datasets have separate terms.
Contributing
A free account is required to post observations, add identifications or participate in discussion.
Use it to open an identification, not to close one. Preserve the suggested taxon, identifiers' comments and later changes as part of the determination history.
Database Open Research pass ·
Place it in context
Occurrence, stratigraphic, catalogue and archive services that situate a record in space, time and literature.
Catalogue of Life partnership, Species 2000 and contributing taxonomic specialists
A global checklist joining expert taxonomic sources across the living world, with accepted names, synonyms and classification.
Best for
Normalising a proposed name across kingdoms and tracing the specialist source from which the treatment came.
Limits
Completeness and update cadence differ among taxonomic groups. The Extended Release is broader but less uniformly scrutinised than the expert-vetted Base Release, and neither identifies a specimen or observation.
Coverage
Global; animals, plants, fungi, prokaryotes and other living groups, with source-dependent coverage.
Reuse
CC BY 4.0 for Catalogue of Life releases unless a contributing source states otherwise.
Prefer the Base Release when you need the most consistently reviewed backbone; use the Extended Release when breadth matters, and retain the release name in your record.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility species and occurrence infrastructure
Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat and participating data publishers
An international taxonomic backbone connected to specimen, survey and citizen-science occurrence records and their source datasets.
Best for
Checking synonymy, geographic plausibility and the provenance of published occurrence evidence.
Limits
The backbone is a synthetic working taxonomy rather than the final authority for disputed names. Occurrence data can contain errors, duplicates and geographic or collecting bias; a point on the map is not proof of identity or true range.
Coverage
Global, all taxa; coverage and record quality vary greatly by region and source.
Reuse
Each occurrence dataset and media item carries its own CC0, CC BY or CC BY-NC licence; check the source record before reuse.
Contributing
Browsing and API access are open. An account is required for mediated downloads and publishing occurs through recognised data publishers, not by adding a record directly to GBIF.
Follow a record back to its dataset and institution. GBIF is most useful when it reveals the evidence chain, not when its map is treated as an answer.
Atlas of Living Australia — Biodiversity Information Explorer
Atlas of Living Australia, hosted by CSIRO and supported by Australia's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy
Australia's national biodiversity discovery layer, joining names, descriptions, images, maps, records and specialist sources.
Best for
An Australian first pass: finding the relevant national flora, fauna list, collection record or identification resource and checking regional plausibility.
Limits
It aggregates records of differing quality and taxonomic age. Citizen-science records need source-level scrutiny, sensitive localities may be generalised, and absence from the map does not establish absence in nature.
Coverage
Australia and its territories across the living world, with links to global and regional sources.
Reuse
ALA site material is generally CC BY 3.0 Australia; occurrence records and media retain the licence stated by each provider.
Contributing
Browsing is open. An account is required for contributions and some personalised services.
For Australian observations, use ALA as a route into the specialist source rather than stopping at the aggregated species page.
Biodiversity Heritage Library international consortium of natural-history, botanical, research and national libraries
The world's largest open-access digital library of biodiversity literature and archives, with scientific-name indexing across historic and modern works.
Best for
Finding original species descriptions, monographs, plates, historic observations and the literature behind a taxonomic claim.
Limits
Much of the collection is historical: names, ranges, language and scientific conclusions may be outdated, and optical character recognition can misread names. A digitised page is a source to interpret, not a current determination.
Coverage
Global biodiversity literature from the fifteenth century to the present, with holdings determined by contributing libraries and rights availability.
Reuse
Metadata is CC0. Public-domain works remain public domain; in-copyright items and images carry the rights statement shown on the item.
Its taxonomic name finder is an unusually effective bridge from an accepted name to the literature and illustrations that established or revised it.
Data repository Open API Research pass ·
Learn the field
Textbooks, courses and teaching material for building the underlying competence.
iNaturalist, an independent nonprofit organisation, and its contributor community
A professionally operated global observation platform combining photo and sound suggestions with visible community identifications and discussion.
Best for
Generating candidates, finding identifiers who know the group, and seeing which visible characters changed a community determination.
Limits
Computer vision and community consensus are evidence, not authority. Geographic, seasonal and observer biases affect suggestions; 'research grade' describes a platform state rather than independent verification, and difficult taxa still require specialist characters.
Coverage
Global, all observable living groups; strongest where the community and training data are dense.
Reuse
Observation data and media use contributor-selected licences; check each item before reuse. Platform code and exported datasets have separate terms.
Contributing
A free account is required to post observations, add identifications or participate in discussion.
Use it to open an identification, not to close one. Preserve the suggested taxon, identifiers' comments and later changes as part of the determination history.
Biodiversity Heritage Library international consortium of natural-history, botanical, research and national libraries
The world's largest open-access digital library of biodiversity literature and archives, with scientific-name indexing across historic and modern works.
Best for
Finding original species descriptions, monographs, plates, historic observations and the literature behind a taxonomic claim.
Limits
Much of the collection is historical: names, ranges, language and scientific conclusions may be outdated, and optical character recognition can misread names. A digitised page is a source to interpret, not a current determination.
Coverage
Global biodiversity literature from the fifteenth century to the present, with holdings determined by contributing libraries and rights availability.
Reuse
Metadata is CC0. Public-domain works remain public domain; in-copyright items and images carry the rights statement shown on the item.
Its taxonomic name finder is an unusually effective bridge from an accepted name to the literature and illustrations that established or revised it.
Data repository Open API Research pass ·
Corrections
Know this field better than this page does?
The most valuable correction is not another link. It is knowing that an entry's stated limit
is wrong, or that a resource practitioners rely on is missing.
