| Developer Portal

Data catalog Resources Contact About the project

Back to data catalog

| Developer Portal

Data catalog
Resources
Contact
About the project
Cookies

The OpenEPI project partners
Knowit
Capto
Creative Commons
Open Future

2025 - Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Back to data catalog

emoji_nature

Catalogue of Life

Dataset

CC BY 4.0

species • biodiversity •

A comprehensive and authoritative global index of species of organisms on Earth. It aggregates taxonomic data from hundreds of expert-validated sources to support research and biodiversity assessments.

Documentation

Explore the documentation for Catalogue of Life

Download

Download Catalogue of Life

More information

The Catalogue of Life (CoL) is a comprehensive global index of species compiled from expert-validated taxonomic databases. It provides a reliable and regularly updated checklist of known organisms.

Type of Data: Species names, taxonomic structure, distribution status, synonyms.
Use Cases: Biodiversity informatics, species inventories, conservation policy, academic research.
Benefits: Acts as a unified species reference for international biodiversity platforms and databases.

Provided by

The Catalogue of Life Partnership

The Catalogue of Life (CoL) is a partnership between Species 2000 and ITIS, with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) hosting the latest version of the CoL website since December 2020. CoL aims to provide a widely accepted classification of species, based on expert consensus

Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international open-data network that provides free access to millions of biodiversity records from around the world. By aggregating data from museums, research institutions, and citizen science, GBIF supports scientific research, conservation planning, and informed policy-making on biodiversity and ecosystems.