The Catalogue of Life is the most comprehensive and authoritative global index of species currently available. It consists of a single integrated species checklist and taxonomic hierarchy. The Catalogue holds essential information on the names, relationships and distributions of over 1.5 million species. This figure continues to rise as information is compiled from diverse sources around the world. There are two distinct versions of the Catalogue: the Catalogue of Life monthly edition and the Catalogue of Life Annual Checklist. Developed by: The Catalogue of Life is led by Species 2000, working in partnership with the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). Used data resources: The Catalogue of Life depends upon the contributions of more than 100 Global Species Databases, established at centers of expertise around the world. New data sources are continuously being identified to address gaps in the Catalogue. An overview of all contributing databases can be found at http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/info/databases

rgbif is an R package to search and retrieve data from the Global Biodiverity Information Facilty (GBIF). rgbif wraps R code around the GBIF API to allow you to talk to GBIF from R.

The goal of sdmpredictors is to make environmental data, commonly used for species distribution modelling (SDM), also called ecological niche modelling (ENM) or habitat suitability modelling, easy to use in R. sdmpredictors gives access to several environmental datasets, including the the Bio-ORACLE Marine Data Layers for Bioclimatic Modelling. LifeWatch hosts the website https://www.bio-oracle.org/ and supports the development of these layers. The package contains methods for getting downloading raster data for the current climate but also for future and paleo climatic conditions. These rasters and then loaded into R.

The new Italian Fauna Checklist updates the Checklist first published in the mid-1990s by Minelli et al. (1993-1995) in paper format, including 57.468 species (including “Protozoa”), 37.303 of which were insects. The new Checklist, which will exclude protozoans, is published exclusively online through the LifeWatch Italy Web Portal and will be continuously updated. The taxonomic classification, scientific name, author and year of description are provided for each species/subspecies, as well as the geographical distribution, the status of exclusivity (endemics) and allochthony, any taxonomic and distributive notes, pertinent literature and synonyms are also given.