Dutch Species Catalogue

Dutch biodiversity is among the best investigated in the world. This research has resulted in numerous papers, reports and books. The Dutch Species Catalogue combines this information for the first time in history, and, in this way, it contributes to international biodiversity networks as Fauna Europaea and GBIF.

Macrotylus paykullii Photo Roy Kleukers

Summary

The Dutch Species Catalogue offers:

• A reliable list of the species recorded in the Netherlands
• A comprehensive taxonomic tree of the species 
• Standardized ecological status of the species in the Netherlands 
• Sources and consulted specialists per taxon 
• Numbers of  species/names per taxonomic level
• Continuous addition and improvement of the species data by Dutch specialists 
  
  

Trichoniscoides sarsi Photo Theodoor Heijerman

Target groups

The Dutch Species Catalogue aims to inform policymakers, biodiversity researchers, consultancy firms, journalists, nature wardens and the interested layman and offers an answer to the following questions:

• What is the correct name of the species?
  Starting from the scientific name (with author information). Dutch name, synonyms and former names are also given.
• What is the status of the species in the Netherlands? 
  A distinction is made between species that naturally occur and introduced (alien) species.
• Where does the species fit in the taxonomic tree?
  The generally  accepted current taxonomic classification is offered.
• What does the species look like?
  Photographs of species are added continuously.
• Where does a species occur?
  The addition of distribution maps has been started.

Click here to view the taxonomic tree of Dutch Species

Collaboration

A large number of scientific institutions, individual experts and organisations of volunteer recorders contribute to the Dutch Species Catalogue, e.g., the National Herbarium, Fungal Biodiversity Center, National Museum of Natural History Naturalis, Zoological Museum Amsterdam, European Invertebrate Survey - the Netherlands (EIS-NL) and the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (the ministry provides information on the legal and policy status of the species.). Dozens of individual specialist are contributing as well. They often participate in one of the nongovernmental organizations that contribute to biodiversity data collecting.

Naturalis and EIS-NL organise and coordinate the Dutch Species Catalogue with financial support of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.

The Dutch Species Catalogue serves as a national node of the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL).

State of affairs

For the current state of affairs regarding number of species, photographs, Dutch common names, etc., we refer to the statistics box on our homepage.