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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 325,851 articles

Wikispecies is free, because life is in the public domain!

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Strobilurus esculentus Fichten-Zapfenrübling.jpg Pinus Radiata detail.jpg Oreochromis tanganicae (Günther).jpg Tulip agenensis ZE.jpg Nilgais fighting, Lakeshwari, Gwalior district, India.jpg
Strobilurus esculentus Pinus radiata Oreochromis tanganicae Tulipa agenensis Boselaphus tragocamelus

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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

Bocage-JV-Barbosa-du-1823-1.jpg

José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage
  (1823-1907).

A Portuguese zoologist and politician. He was the curator of Zoology at the Museum of Natural History in Lisbon. His work at the Museum consisted in acquiring, describing and coordinating collections, many of which arrived from the Portuguese colonies in Africa, such as Angola, Mozambique, etc. He published more than 200 taxonomic papers on mammals, birds, and fishes. In the 1880s he became the Minister of the Navy and later the Minister for Foreign Affairs for Portugal. The zoology collection at the Lisbon Museum is called the Bocage Museum in his honor. He was responsible for identifying many new species, which he named according to the naturalist who found them.

Species of the week

Queen of the Andes

Puya raimondii

Some facts on this plant:

Height of vegetative growth: Up to 3 m.

Height of flower cluster: Up to 10 m.

Range: Endemic to the high Andes of Bolivia and Peru.

Habitat: High mountains at an elevation of 3200–4800 m.

Conservation status: Endangered (IUCN 3.1).

First described: By the Italian botanist Antonio Raimondi, and later renamed in his honor by the German taxonomist Hermann Harms in 1928.


Puya raimondii isn't satisfied with producing one or two flowers. No, it makes an abundance of 10,000 flowers which result in an overwhelming 6,000,000 seeds. It is the largest member of the Bromeliad family, Bromeliaceae, which contains more than 3,000 species. To grow such a gigantic inflorescence Puya raimondii needs a very long time; it takes this plant 80 to 150 years to reach maturity and come into bloom. Unfortunately, it blossoms only once and the plant dies soon after the fruits ripen. That’s why this species is endangered in the wild with a small population. Puya raimondii is pollinated by bats and large insects.

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