News
New WoRMS Steering Committee (SC) 2012 approved
Added on: 2012-03-06 13:19:28 by Appeltans, Ward & Costello, Mark
A new WoRMS Steering Committee (SC) has been approved by the WoRMS Editors. Many of the editors said it is a well-balanced representation of expertise.
NEW: Marine Species of the British Isles and Adjacent Seas (MSBIAS)
Added on: 2012-03-05 14:16:06 by Appeltans, Ward
We are pleased to launch a new regional species database for the British Isles and Adjacent Seas (MSBIAS), that grew out of the World Register of Marine Species database.State of Observed Species report shows nearly 20,000 new species described in 2009
Added on: 2012-02-06 13:44:07 by Appeltans, Ward
IISE counted 176,311 new living species between 2000 and 2009, of which 19,232 were described in the last year (SOS report 2011, released on 18 Jan 2012). WoRMS has 1,928 new marine species in 2009. The data were gathered from Zoological Record, IPNI, MycoBank, WoRMS and AlgaeBase. ...
URMO website, as a tribute to Jacob van der Land
Added on: 2011-12-21 11:32:10 by Appeltans, Ward
The UNESCO-IOC Register of Marine Organisms (URMO) was the first attempt to compile an electronic list all marine species during the 1990’s. It was invented and developed by Jacob van der Land at the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden (and several colleagues). URMO and other databases (such as the European Register of Marine Species) were the starting points for the current World Register of Marine Species. The URMO list is no longer actively maintained and is completely adopted by the World Register of Marine Species. ...
The Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), host institute of the WoRMS database, is now officially a World Data Centre.
Added on: 2011-11-25 10:26:18 by Appeltans, Ward
VLIZ was awarded this honour and saw its efforts in managing marine data since 2000 rewarded with an international certification within the World Data System of the International Council for Science (ICSU). VLIZ is now an official member of a global network of 28 world data centres, of which only 4 deal with marine data management. ...In Memoriam Jacob van der Land (1935-2011)
Added on: 2011-10-27 09:35:14 by Hoeksema, Bert W.
Dr. Jacob van der Land passed away on Sunday 23 October 2011, 76 years old. He spent many of his productive years - before and after his retirement - on the Unesco Register of Marine Species, the European Register of Marine Species, and indirectly also on WoRMS. ...
WoRMS frequently mentioned at the World Conference of Marine Biodiversity 2011
Added on: 2011-10-11 09:56:28 by Appeltans, Ward
WoRMS was quoted as a source of information many times during the World Conference of Marine Biodiversity (25-30 September 2011, Aberdeen, UK), the largest ever conference of marine biologists with almost 1000 present. ...
The World Polychaeta Database launched
Added on: 2011-09-19 13:21:24 by Read, Geoff
The new Global Species Database (GSD) contains over 11,000 accepted species and is a merge of the World Register of Polychaeta by Kristian Fauchald (2007) and numerous additions/edits from Geoff Read (>2009), and several other editors. ...
World Modern Foraminifera Database launched
Added on: 2011-08-12 10:20:55 by Hayward, B.W.
The World Modern Foraminifera Database currently contains roughly 10,000 names, including 6,700 accepted species. It also contains 1,100 references and around 2,700 images of species.The (3) editors are: Bruce W. Hayward; Tomas Cedhagen; Mike Kaminski. ...

The European Species Portal (PESI) has been launched!
Added on: 2011-05-10 09:36:27 by De Hauwere, Nathalie
The portal of PESI (Pan-European Species directories Infrastructure) has been launched: www.eu-nomen.eu/portal and is available in 21 European languages. With time, it will be possible to find and search through the information of all species appearing in Europe. Not only the species living in seas and oceans, but also of all terrestrial and aquatic species. Currently, there are already nearly half a million scientific and non-scientific names in 88 languages for over 210 000 species and over 6 million distribution records. ...In Memoriam Patsy A. McLaughlin (1932-2011)
Added on: 2011-04-06 09:03:42 by Lemaitre, Rafael
I am saddened to report that WoRMS paguroid taxonomic editor, Dr. Patsy A. McLaughlin, passed away from heart failure at a clinic near her home in Sedro Woolley, Washington, on April 4, 2011. ...
An ABC tool for species names
Added on: 2011-02-28 15:18:56 by Appeltans, Ward
The correct spelling of a species name is not always trivial (which one is correct: Cirrhitichthys, Cirrhitychthys or Cirritichthys?) and it is very difficult for non-taxonomists to keep up with the valid status of species names. Check our powerful online name matching tool to standardize your names with WoRMS. ...In Memoriam Hans G. Hansson
Added on: 2011-02-03 14:02:18 by Stöhr, Sabine
Hans Hansson was one of our European taxonomic editors. ...
Showing readers what species look like
Added on: 2010-12-10 10:30:00 by Appeltans, Ward
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) and associated databases are an index to the book of life, but our further goal is for every species to have its face on the web. ...
The Canadian Register of Marine Species is now available online
Added on: 2010-11-23 17:24:15 by Kennedy, Mary
CaRMS is one of the regional species registers in WoRMS, containing authoritative species distribution records for marine areas of interest to Canadian researchers and includes taxa found in three oceans: the Atlantic, the Arctic and the Pacific. ...
NEW World Ascidiacea Database
Added on: 2010-10-19 15:47:08 by Shenkar, Noa
The "World Ascidiacea Database" has just gone online as a part of the World Register of Marine Species initiative. ...
First reference list of toxic micro algae online
Added on: 2010-10-19 15:31:13 by Appeltans, Ward
We recently held our 1st meeting of the editorial board of the IOC taxonomic reference list of harmful micro algae (11-13 October 2010 in Hillerød, Denmark). The reference list is an integral part of the World Register of Marine Species database and is actively maintained by nine taxonomic experts. This taxonomic reference list is an initiative of the UNESCO IOC programme on harmful algal blooms. ...
Belgian Register of Marine Species online
Added on: 2010-10-01 11:41:50 by Vandepitte, Leen
The Belgian Register of Marine Species is now available online. It contains all currently accepted scientific names for all sea creatures appearing in the Belgian part of the North Sea, mainly based on the knowledge of field experts and – for some taxonomic groups – complemented with available literature. ...
LSIDs implemented
Added on: 2010-09-24 18:02:28 by Vanhoorne, Bart
WoRMS has now implemented persistent & resolvable LSIDs for taxa. For more information, click on 'webservices'. ...
Mangrove database in Plant Ecology and Evolution
Added on: 2010-09-14 10:34:26 by Appeltans, Ward
The journal Plant Ecology and Evolution has recently published a paper on the ‘Mangrove Reference Database and Herbarium’, which is an integral part of the World Register of Marine Species, hosted by the Flanders Marine Institute. ...[Add]