Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Taxonomic articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 5 4 3 3 15
FL 21 21
GA 5 7 4 2 18
B 6 14 9 6 35
C 5 24 33 46 108
Start 2 13 44 93 152
Stub 3 10 71 84
List 2 15 51 68
Category 5,400 5,400
Disambig 104 1 105
File 5 5
Project 58 58
Redirect 79 79
Template 213 213
Other 2 2
Assessed 23 67 118 293 5,861 1 6,363
Unassessed 1 1
Total 23 67 118 293 5,861 2 6,364
WikiWork factors (?) ω = 1,837 Ω = 4.46

A few Wikipedians have come together to make some suggestions about how we might organize data in these articles. These are only suggestions, things to give you focus and to get you going, and you shouldn't feel obligated in the least to follow them. But if you don't know what to write or where to begin, following the below guidelines may be helpful. Mainly, we just want you to write articles! For updates on Tree of Life and its subprojects, there is a monthly newletter published here to which you can subscribe.

Scope and related projects[edit]

This WikiProject is both a daughter project of WikiProject Biology and a meta-project in its own right. WikiProject Tree of Life aims primarily to represent the taxonomy and relationships of living organisms, as well as their extinct relatives, in a tree structure. Since there are millions of species, not all will be included, but we aim to handle as many as information, time, and interest permit. However, as a meta-project, Tree of Life directly includes only articles which have meaning across taxa or which pertain to taxonomy and systematics in general, or which do not fall under one of our daughter WikiProjects. A full directory of daughter WikiProjects has been listed below in the form of a cladogram. To see a directory of our sister WikiProjects under WikiProject Biology, see this link.

To see activity levels and active editors for these projects, use the Wikiproject Directory tool and find the project in question for further information. Some projects may not be listed. Current labels are based solely on template tags at the top of WikiProject pages and do not represent an in-depth assessment of the activity level of any project by WikiProject Tree of Life.

WikiProject Tree of Life
WikiProject Animals
WikiProject Arthropods
WikiProject Insects

Ant task force

WikiProject Beetles

WikiProject Diptera

Hymenoptera task force

WikiProject Lepidoptera

WikiProject Mantodea (semi-active)

WikiProject Phasmatodea (inactive)

WikiProject Spiders

Mollusca (article)

WikiProject Bivalves

WikiProject Cephalopods

WikiProject Gastropods

Vertebrata (article)
WikiProject Fishes

WikiProject Aquarium Fishes

WikiProject Fisheries and Fishing

Lobe-Fin task force (shared with WP:Palaeontology)

WikiProject Sharks

WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles
WikiProject Dinosaurs

Ankylosauria Task Force

Pterosaurs task force (shared with WP:Palaeontology)

WikiProject Turtles (semi-active)

WikiProject Birds

WikiProject Poultry (inactive)

Domestic Pigeon task force (defunct)

WikiProject Mammals

Bats task force

WikiProject Cats

WikiProject Cetaceans (semi-active)

WikiProject Dogs

Dog breeds task force (inactive)

(semi‑active)
WikiProject Equine

Horse breeds task force (Defunct)(shared with WP:AG)

Horse training task force (Inactive)

WikiProject Monotremes and Marsupials (defunct)

Mustelids work group (inactive)

Pocket pets work group (inactive)

WikiProject Primates

WikiProject Rodents (semi-active)

WikiProject Plants

WikiProject Aquatic plants (completely inactive)

WikiProject Banksia (inactive)

WikiProject Cannabis

WikiProject Carnivorous plants (inactive)

WikiProject Horticulture and Gardening

WikiProject Hypericaceae

WikiProject Medicinal botany (defunct)

WikiProject Pteridophytes (inactive)

WikiProject Microbiology
WikiProject Viruses

WikiProject AIDS

WikiProject COVID-19

WikiProject Algae

WikiProject Australian biota

WikiProject Biota of Great Britain and Ireland (inactive)

WikiProject Fungi

Lichen task force

Wikipedia:WikiProject Japan/Flora and fauna task force (inactive)

WikiProject Marine life

ToL Taxobox task force

WikiProject Palaeontology

Lobe-Fin task force (shared with WP:Fishes)

Pterosaurs task force (shared with WP:Amphibians and Reptiles)

Other projects outside of Tree of Life[edit]

Article alerts[edit]

Today's featured articles

Did you know

Articles for deletion

Redirects for discussion

Featured article candidates

Featured list candidates

Good article nominees

(2 more...)

Peer reviews

Requested moves

Articles to be merged

(14 more...)

Articles to be split

(1 more...)

Articles for creation

Article titles[edit]

Main pages: Wikipedia:Article titles and Wikipedia:Manual of Style § Animals, plants, and other organisms

In cases where there is a formal common name (e.g. for birds), or when common names are well known and reasonably unique (e.g. "Cuvier's dwarf caiman"), they should be used for article titles. In all other cases, scientific names should be used.

See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (flora) for article titles for plants and Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna) for article titles for animals.

Note the following guidelines in using scientific names:

  • Names of genera are always italicized and capitalized, e.g. Homo, Rosa, Saccharomyces.
  • Species epithets are always italicized and preceded by the name of the genus, either in full or abbreviated (e.g. Homo sapiens or H. sapiens; never just sapiens), as an epithet may also be used for a different species in another genus. They are never capitalized.
  • Names of higher taxa are capitalized but not italicized, e.g. Hominidae, Mammalia, Animalia.
  • Common (vernacular) names are not capitalised (except for proper names that are part of them). See Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Animals, plants, and other organisms.

For a monotypic taxon (one that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon), a single article should cover both taxa (unless the higher-ranked one has had multiple circumscriptions, and an article is written to cover them all). If there is no common name, the article should generally go under the scientific name that is most often used when discussing the two taxa, or under the scientific name of lowest rank if there is no clear preference. However, for a monotypic genus (one that contains a single species), the genus name should be used, as it is included in the binomial nomenclature, and the genus title is more concise than the binomial. For instance, the order Amphionidacea, which has the single species Amphionides reynaudii, is discussed at Amphionides. If the name of a monotypic genus is shared with another topic, it is usually more appropriate to use a binomial as a natural disambiguation, rather than using a parenthetical disambiguating term for the genus. E.g., Alberta magna is a more natural search term than Alberta (plant).

Not all species need have separate articles. The simplest (and probably best) rule is to have no rule: if you have the time and energy to write up some particularly obscure subspecies that most people have never even heard of, go for it! As a general guideline, though, it's best to combine separate species into a single entry whenever it seems likely that there won't be enough text to make more than a short, unsatisfying stub otherwise. If the entry grows large enough to deserve splitting, that can always be done later.

A useful heuristic is to create articles in a "downwards" order, that is, family articles first, then genus, then species. If you find that information is getting thin, or the family/genus is small, leave the species information in the family or genus article. Don't try to force it down any further.

Taxon article template[edit]

Main page: Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/Taxon template

Articles about taxa, such as families, genera, or species, typically contain some or all of these sections:

  • (Physical) Description
  • Taxonomy
  • Distribution and habitat
  • Ecology and behavior
  • Conservation
  • Uses
  • Culture

See the general taxon template and descendant project pages, such as the WikiProject Plants taxon template, for more detail specific to different groups.

Taxoboxes[edit]

Example taxobox
Cetaceans
Temporal range: 53.5–0 Ma Early Eocene – Present
The Cetacea.jpg
Clockwise from top: sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), Blainville's beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris), southern right whale (Eubalaena australis), narwhal (Monodon monoceros), humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), killer whale (Orcinus orca), gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) and harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena).
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Clade: Cetaceamorpha
Infraorder: Cetacea
Brisson, 1762
Parvorders

(see text for families)

Diversity
Around 88 species
The full taxobox guide is located at Wikipedia:Automated taxobox system/intro.

Detailed taxonomic information, including notes on how taxa are defined and how they vary between different systems, belongs in the article proper. Where possible, however, a standard table will be provided to allow easier navigation between related groups and quick identification of what sort of organisms are being discussed. These are called taxoboxes. A typical taxobox is shown at right (it belongs on the top right of the page Cetacea).

There are three main sections to the taxobox:

  • A header showing the name of the group, sometimes followed by a representative image.
  • A table showing the placement of the group in a typical classification system.
  • A footer, whose content varies, showing the binomial name or a species, or a list of subgroups for higher taxa.

Some items that are often included, but are not (necessarily) standardized, include:

Position: The taxobox generally belongs at the top right corner of the article, unless it has been decided otherwise on the relevant talk page - for instance, if the article is not primarily about the biological group.

For cultivars — cultivated varieties of plants — don't use a taxobox; instead use a cultivar infobox ({{Infobox cultivar}}) as described at Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/Cultivar infobox.

For breeds of animals, don't use a taxobox; instead use the appropriate breed template; see for example Wikipedia:WikiProject Dogs/Dog breeds task force and Wikipedia:WikiProject Equine/Horse breeds.

Talkpages[edit]

Tag talkpages with: {{WikiProject Tree of Life|class=|importance=}}

Categories[edit]

Major groups should be given their own categories. When possible, these should use the common name in the plural, except for plants, where WikiProject Plants uses scientific names by default (see WP:NCFLORA). In general, only articles about major subgroups should be added, and more specific articles should be included in subcategories. However, when there are only a few articles about members of the group, they can all go directly into the main category. Use your judgement on when to split, aiming for an approximate category size of 10-50 articles.

Note that in addition to taxa, categories may also contain informal subgroups. For instance Category:Primates may include an article or subcategory for monkeys, although they are not treated as a formal group. They may also include some other articles that pertain specifically to members of the group, although they are not about them.

Categories for articles about the biota[1] of a region should be based on the common grouping of that region used by zoological, botanical, mycological etc. publications. For example, if it is common to separate a region based on political boundaries (as in parts of Europe), categories should be separated by countries. If it is common to separate regions based on geographic features (such as New Guinea), categories should be separated by geographic region.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Biota are the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period. See: Biota (ecology)

Taxonomic resources[edit]

The taxonomy of many groups is in a state of flux as taxonomic experts strive to incorporate the findings of Molecular phylogenetics, so it is not always possible to find a single satisfactory classification, and we would be doing a great disservice by pretending otherwise. The best would be to try and find out what the current consensus is, if there is one, and make notes on variant systems. In this, the following resources may be helpful:

General taxonomy[edit]

  • Catalogue of Life - 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 1.7 million species. This figure continues to rise as information is compiled from diverse sources around the world. Results are explicit about their primary sources but may trail behind primary databases such as World Register of Marine Species.
  • M. A. Ruggiero et al.: A Higher Level Classification of All Living Organisms PLOS One, 2015; also a few corrections here. A Classification of all life down to the level of order, to be implemented through the Catalogue of Life. Families are not included, although they can be found at this 2014 version here (as an excel spreadsheet, some orders etc. changed for the 2015 version)
  • NCBI database − The Taxonomy Database is a curated classification and nomenclature for all of the organisms in the public sequence databases. This currently represents about 10% of the described species of life on the planet. It attempts to incorporate phylogenetic and taxonomic knowledge from a variety of sources.
  • UC Berkeley: History of life through time − phylogenetic cladograms; many well-summarized groups with illustrations; many pages "under construction"; links to other useful sites
  • Mikko's Phylogeny Archive - A private archive of various phylogenetic trees.
  • Index to Organism Names - Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters, formerly Biosis) - zoological names only, taxonomic hierarchy is useful a starting point but not necessarily up-to-date or complete.
  • The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera (IRMNG) - A comprehensive source (at least to c.2012) for genus names and their authorities for "all life", taxonomy is fairly up-to-date in some portions (higher plants, algae, fungi), variable in others; not all genera yet allocated to families.
  • Paleobiology Database [1]: taxonomic and distributional information about the fossil record of plants and animals, complete for many well-known taxa, less so for others.
  • Systema naturae − usually gives multiple breakdowns for groups, which is sometimes confusing but can be very useful.
  • www.itis.gov − now part of Catalogue of Life an automated reference database of scientific and common names for species built within a working hierarchy. ITIS partners with Species 2000 to build the Catalogue of Life. Covers a lot of ground, but is often incomplete or idiosyncratic. ITIS pages older than a few years or with no review date should not be used, and in general ITIS cannot be considered a reliable source on its own. (Note domain used to be www.itis.usda.gov . Deleting the usda component may restore the link.
  • Species 2000 − now part of Catalogue of Life a list of specific taxonomic (current) databases, covering contemporary and fossil organisms.
  • Systax - a database system for systematics and taxometry based at the University of Ulm, Germany, which can be used as an alternative to the Itis system listed above.
  • Kluge Principles of taxonomy
  • Global Names Index - A repository of ~18 million names (species, genus + alternate names and attributions from author) from a multitude of source.

Marine organisms[edit]

  • World Register of Marine Species [2] - an authoritative searchable database of marine organisms, from vertebrates to viruses. The taxonomic editors for each section are the experts in their group of organisms.

Animals[edit]

  • Animal Diversity Web from the University of Michigan - Very informative
  • Lepidoptera and other species (mostly related to Lepidoptera, such as popular butterfly plants, etc.). Info collected from other sources, not sure how accurate it all is. Interesting note: he has a (open source) perl script generating range maps automatically from distribution text.
  • BugGuide.net--extensive resource on taxonomy and identification of North American arthropods. Experts in many fields visit and help with taxonomy.
  • Diptera.info--extensive resource on taxonomy and identification of Diptera. Experts members help with taxonomy
  • Hymis forum--extensive resource on taxonomy and identification of Hymenoptera. Experts members help with taxonomy
  • Fauna Europaea - Database of all European land and freshwater animals.
Amphibians and Reptiles
Birds
Gastropods (Mollusca)

For all marine species, Wikiproject Gastropods uses the taxonomy curated by MolluscaBase and also viewed on WoRMS. This system is based on the 2017 "Revised Classification, Nomenclator and Typification of Gastropod and Monoplacophoran Families" by Philippe Bouchet & Jean-Pierre Rocroi, Bernhard Hausdorf, Andrzej Kaim, Yasunori Kano, Alexander Nützel, Pavel Parkhaev, Michael Schrödl and Ellen E. Strong in Malacologia, 2017, 61(1–2): 1–526.

Bivalves (Mollusca)

Wikiproject Bivalves is using the taxonomy of Bieler, R., Carter, J.G. & Coan, E.V. (2010) Classification of Bivalve families. Pp. 113-133, in: Bouchet, P. & Rocroi, J.P. (2010), "Nomenclator of Bivalve Families with a Classification of Bivalve Families" Malacologia 52(2): 1-184, which can be found at: Philippe Bouchet & Jean-Pierre Rocroi, Rüdiger Bieler, Joseph G. Carter, & Eugene V. Coan. 2010: Nomenclator of bivalve families with a classification of bivalve families. Malacologia 52: 4-112.

Brachiopods
Cephalopods (Mollusca)
Fish
Mammals
Platyhelminths (Turbellaria)

Baguñà, J.; Riutort, M. (2004). "Molecular phylogeny of the Platyhelminthes". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 82 (2): 168. doi:10.1139/z03-214., reflected in "Turbellarian taxonomic database".

Solenogastres (Mollusca)
Arthropods

Plants[edit]

Likewise, the following sites can help find taxonomic authors and abbreviations:
  • IPNI, authors search Note that the author database is separate from the plant name databases: the author database is authoritative. The plant name databases are "as is" and should be used as a search aid (invaluable as such) rather than as any kind of authority.

Fungi[edit]

  • Index Fungorum - database of fungus species, genus and higher names, with all historical synonyms and indication of current name
  • MycoBank - nomenclatural and taxonomical database, similar in purpose and coverage to Index Fungorum
  • ITIS, which covers other kingdoms as well

Protists and prokaryotes[edit]

Viruses[edit]

Requests[edit]

Taxa[edit]

List of requested taxa

Photographs[edit]

If you wish to have a photo uploaded please add {{Image requested|animals}} on the talk page of the article. Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of animals lists these requests - if you can upload a photograph of any of these it would be appreciated.

Cladograms[edit]

If you would like for a cladogram to be created for an article visit Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/Cladogram requests.

Related WikiProjects[edit]

On other Wikimedia Foundation projects[edit]

2 people Participants[edit]

To join, add your name Here
  • AAshortfin Primarily marine fish and inverts, with a side of fungi.
  • andy Mostly adding taxoboxes where I spot them missing, and occasionally adding articles on Amphibians
  • Al-Ghazali
  • Allthingstoallpeople (talk) 14:45, 12 January 2010 (UTC) Hundreds of photos of rare animals and plants from 15 years of travel in the Amazon rainforest, Galapagos Islands and sub-Saharan Africa -- enquiries welcome. CC licensing available.Reply[reply]
  • AlphaEta Prokaryotes and ruminants
  • Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason - going to help with changing the taxoboxes over to the new template syntax.
  • Anaxial
  • Andra Waagmeester
  • Antarctic-adventurer - Mainly gastropods (nudibranchia) and some marine fishes. This project needs to get going, there are millions of species to do!
  • AntarcticPenguin
  • Aranae Mostly rodents
  • AshLin Lepidoptera, Birds, Reptiles, Spoken articles for TOL wikiprojsects
  • Atsme Fish (marine & freshwater), mammals, insects, amphibians, mollusks, birds, reptiles, and so on.
  • Avalik Mammals, frogs, and birds will be my thing.
  • Ba'Gamnan I am interested in Biology and in Photography.
  • Belizian I just take nature pictures in the Jungles of Belize, request welcome.
  • Bibliomaniac15 - I like and research organisms in general. However, why isn't there a WikiProject for Reptiles or Amphibians?
  • Bob the Wikipedian (talk • contribs) : I'm a zoology/paleobiology enthusiast. I also hunt for bugs, particularly brown recluses and other spiders. Also-- if someone would like a photo or video shot of an animal native to Vanderburgh County, IN, I'd be happy to try to fill the request.
  • Bolosphex My main interest is Hymenoptera centering on Aculeata, Vespidae and especially Eumeninae
  • bondolo Anything that lives in marine aquariums
  • Calaka (talk) 07:54, 22 March 2010 (UTC) - Assuming all goes well I would make regular contributions based on the Global Names Index.Reply[reply]
  • Caudata Lizards and snakes mostly
  • Chinasaur Going to try to add some images from the largely public domain NSF Image Library.
  • Chris_huh
  • Chrisrus
  • CompanyGardener Interested in edible plants and cultivars.
  • Contrawwftw
  • Coyoty Disambiguations, proofreading, etc.
  • Cryoboy I started the Cnidarians Wikiproject, I am also interested in primates.
  • User:Dabs:Dabs - evolution, phyloinformatics; interested in improving the Tree of Life topic page and making this more of a resource
  • Dalf | Talk - Right now mostly doing house keeping stuff and mostly that in the extinct animals space.
  • Dan Koehl I am now trying to implement the templates on the swedish wikipedia.
  • DanielCD My main interest is in plants, fossils and extinct animals/organisms; adding taxoboxes where I find them missing, etc.
  • Daniel Mietchen, general interest in taxonomy, phylogeny and evolution; primarily adding sources and images.
  • Dante Alighieri | Talk If I happen to be working on a plant/animal article with a missing taxobox, I usually try to put one in.
  • Darthgriz98 Zoology, biology, the environment, and ecology related articles are my usual contributions
  • DarthVader Trying to sort out classification, especially problems with Dinosauria and Primates.
  • Dawson - Primarily reptiles and amphibians, photography.
  • Demi - slow and desultory contributions on fish, esp. elasmobranchs like bat rays
  • Deuterostome - Ciliates in particular, microbial eukaryotes in general.
  • Dinoguy2 Dinosaur-like birds, bird-like dinosaurs, and taxonomy.
  • Divingpetrel Taxon authorities.
  • Dracontes All kinds of prehistoric creatures (mainly dinosaurs).
  • DSWebb I'll do whatever I can on anything biological.
  • Eclecticology
  • Edisstrange adding missing species based on iNaturalist
  • EdWBaker Started WikiProject Phasmatodea. Mainly work with insects and gastropods
  • Eewilson
  • Elapied 10:44, 14 February 2007 (UTC) (earthworm taxonomy, mainly from South America, and also different invertebrate groups of marine life).Reply[reply]
  • ElCharismo - I've always had a passion for taxonomy, and I'm very intrigued by this WikiProject. Here's to the proliferation of taxoboxes, untangling of reference roots, and healthy branching of the Tree of Life: Víva Biology!
  • Eliezg - mostly marine mammals, particularly pinnipeds.
  • EncycloPetey - bryophytes, pteridophytes, monocots, and some algae and fossil plants (but working more on Wikispecies these days).
  • Epipelagic - mostly marine animals.
  • Esoxid Macroinvertebrates, mostly marine and some freshwater.
  • Faendalimas - Taxonomist specialising in nomenclature, ICZN and focussed on Turtles living and fossil species.
  • FoCuSandLeArN Create TOL stubs
  • Froggydarb - Mostly Australia frogs, other Australian animals and other frogs.
  • Furius Just fleshing out Bovidae animals
  • Gangleri I arrived here because I saw that some Tree of Life articles, categories (maybe also lists) (also from other languages) are not linked to la.Wikipedia. Having Icelandic Sheepdogs I search dog related articles in other Wikipedias and link them together for the dog breeds project.
  • Gaff
  • GerardM Mainly in using information for use in other wikipedia's and for promoting the universal taxobox in stead of an only en:taxobox.
  • GF38storic Pathogenic bacteria's taxonomist with PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Biology since more than 20 years. Cited in the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes.
  • Graham Created a template ({{TSN}}) for the common ITIS link, and am trying to apply it where appropriate. (See Springtail for an example.)
  • Hadal Currently focusing on fish but will write about anything with a heartbeat.
  • Hey Jude mostly North American birds.
  • Herpetogenesis Amphibians, reptiles, and marine invertebrates
  • Hyperik
  • IJReid Mostly extinct things, but I touch on a variety
  • Iorsh Wild flora of Israel. I'm an amateur - most my contributions are stubs with taxobox and a photo.
  • Ingoolemo Currently mammals, will probably end up doing a lot of stuff on various organisms. I try to be as scientific as possible, but the problem is that taxonomy and biology aren't exactly the areas I specialise in.
  • Intelligentsium Most animals, generally vertebrates
  • Invertzoo Primarily gastropods, but also bivalves, chitons, scaphopods, a few cephalopods, and some other invertebrates, aquatic and terrestrial, a little paleontology too.
  • IronChris 18:07, 8 April 2006 (UTC)Reply[reply]
  • jaknouse Plants in general, especially ferns; have done some members of non-plant groups when noticeably missing
  • Jeffery Gentry
  • Jasonaltenburg Bugs, plants, trees, and photos.
  • Jim mainly birds
  • JoJan : mostly Project:Gastropods; taxoboxes; common names
  • Josh Grosse Mostly though not entirely protists.
  • JTtheOG
  • Jurriaan Mostly reptiles and amphibians
  • Justin Random improvements, sometimes related to integration with iNaturalist.org.
  • Jwinius Snakes, mostly viperids, entire viperine subfamily.
  • kazishariar To expand on wikipedia's view of tree-diagraming of structures and articles
  • KEncyclopediaB Photography of animals, mostly in herpetology references. But, I will try to also put in information on such in the same category.
  • Kim11311
  • KMLP Algae
  • KnowledgeRequire Working on various subjects in Zoology and Botany; mostly Mammals and Reptiles
  • --KQ (intermittently, when something has been dumbed down enough to be legible to the unwashed masses)
  • Trevor Dykes (I'll try. My main interest is Mesozoic mammals and the like. I do wash, but I'm strictly an amateur.)
  • Kugamazog I'll be mostly under WikiProject Lepidoptera
  • Lepidoptera Primarily class insecta
  • LDan
  • Liopleurodon93 Im interested in palaeontology, I write articles about prehistoric animals and fishes. Major articles that I created Psarolepis.
  • liquidGhoul Mostly Australian frogs, but also any Australian animals/plant and any frog.
  • Lucy Yan Plants, fungi and mammals, sometimes will translate some good articles from Chinese Wikipedia .
  • Macgreco Mainly Brazilian birds and mammals.
  • Magnus Manske
  • M Alan Kazlev - interest in history of life in general. Most familiar with various Paleozoic and Mesozoic amphibians and reptiles, and some invertebrate groups, e.g. Molluscs (especially nautiloids, gastropods, etc). Disclaimer: I'm a lay-writer and armchair enthusiast only.
  • MarcoTolo - Microbes of all shapes and sizes: bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc.
  • MargaretRDonal Mainly plants
  • Marshman Mostly angiosperms, but some invertebrates groups as well (Annelida, Arthropoda) from my previous life
  • MattDP General editing on natural history, with an emphasis on the taxonomy and study of dinosaurs and extinct arthropods.
  • Maveric149
  • Maverx Trying to help out in phylum chordata specifically Tunicates
  • Maxim Stoyalov
  • MaynardClark (talk) 03:51, 24 July 2020 (UTC)Reply[reply]
  • MCEllis Updating/writing taxonomy link templates, mostly focused on plants. Author of {{taxon_bar}}
  • Melissadilara Mostly adding taxon bar, stub, etc.
  • Merovingian: I'm most interested in Bacteria, Archaea, Fungi, Protista, etc.
  • Miwa Primarily birds, but I'll Wiki-spackle just about anything where necessary.
  • Monk of The Highest Order I'm a bird man... na na na na na na... oh wait? Oh yeah, I just have a boxload of eastern north america bird books, so I'll be... processing the information onto wikipedia. If you know what I mean.
  • MPF Main interest in Pinophyta, also trees and other plants more generally
  • Mr. Lefty Pretty much whatever.
  • Mycota - Where are all the mycologists? As always, the fungi have been ignored. Sigh...
  • Neferkheperre Cirripedia, aka barnacles, fossil and modern. Oysters, also, as they are such great places to find barnacles. I am working on Wikipedia and Wikispecies to get Cirripedia up to a high quality level. I am after making it easier to find synonymy and type locality/type repository data easy to find. It can be a chore.
  • Nessie (talk) 21:07, 4 December 2009 (UTC) Just want to help where I can. I feel sad for some of these neglected species.Reply[reply]
  • Neutrality (hopefully!) (endemic species)
  • Nighthawk4211 I'm working mainly on the Orchidaceae.
  • NINTENPUG Taxonomy in general.
  • NoahElhardt - Mainly carnivorous plants and California natives.
  • Nog642
  • Robert Nash - Mainly insect taxa and phylogenetics
  • Obsidian Soul (talk) 07:10, 21 January 2011 (UTC) - Anything really. Botany, Zoology, Paleontology. Always been fascinated by nature ever since I was a kid, grew up as probably the only fossil collector in my entire island, collected beetles as well and whatnot. Not a specialist or a professional in any of these fields, but have enough knowledge (and enthusiasm) to create/improve articles. I take photos as well as hunt down photos online with appropriate licenses for articles that need them.Reply[reply]
  • OldakQuill General, alot of bacteria so far.
  • Omicronpoint General, mostly targeting some "To-Do" tasks in the list.
  • Onco_p53 Mostly bacteria, some algae.
  • Pbsouthwood Marine biota of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay, and anywhere else I have dived.
  • Andy Mabbett, Pigsonthewing - author of 'species' microformat
  • Pengo - Red List Categories ("Conservation Status") and the taxobox
  • nixie works on all organisms and viruses too, currently interested in increasing coverage of various plant pests
  • Peter1968 - helping out with Australian flora, mainly rainforest species.
  • PhD Dre - Chronic since 1992.
  • Phlebas Dinosaurs and fishes, mostly. Oh, and ostracods maybe too.
  • Pierre Abbat
  • Plantdrew Mostly interested in plants, some interest in fishes, and a little bit of everything else
  • Peter Maas: mainly mammals and extinct species.
  • Prashanthns Indian flora and fauna
  • Princess Janay (talk) 21:30, 17 February 2008 (UTC)I already helped out. I created a much-requested biology article on The leaf is affected with Monochaetia fungi, a genus of Amphisphaeriaceae, a family of fungi.Reply[reply]
  • Pstanton I'm just a pre-med undergraduate. Taking Animal Biology this quarter and I think taxonomy is fascinating! I'll help out as I can. --Pstanton (talk) 08:25, 1 February 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply]
  • Quetzal1964 (talk) Updating using automatic taxoboxes and speciesboxes atm, wasps, fish, birds, molluscs, some spiders and a few miscellaneous species. I enjoy creating and expanding articles too.
  • Qwertzy2 Taxonomy of higher plants above all, but some small animals (crustaceans, insects or even birds) from time to time as well. No particular specialist knowledge.
  • Ram-Man Mostly for fish, but maybe some plants too.
  • Ravedave I plan on reviewing & helping all life articles that show up on FAC.
  • RetroCraft314 - helping along migration to automatic taxoboxes.
  • Richard Barlow - I've been working on moths for a while. Planning to do some butterfly stuff. Probably will dip into virtually anything! (Strictly layman - do NOT call me an entomologist!)
  • Roy Bateman Especially interested in insects, plants and fungi of W. Europe and Vietnam: specifically trying to work out what we have in Cat Tien National Park. Background: entomology and IPM.
  • Sarefo - mostly spiders, also taxon work (genera pages etc., species lists), range maps.
  • Sabine's Sunbird - Birds, mostly, but I'll contribute to anything I know something about. Seabirds are my speciality.
  • Sambostock intend to standardise mammal pages. work on birds and everything else.
  • SB_Johnny I'm an organic farmer and horticulturist, interested in the practical side of plant articles.
  • Seglea - I have some specialist knowledge on birds, rodents and primates (which need a lot of work), but I have ready access to the technical literature and am willing to turn an amateur hand to most taxa.
  • User:Samara levine - I am studying sexual selection, sperm competition, and sexual conflict and plan on reviewing entries in order to include these principles.
  • Scorpions13256 - I am mostly a Wikignome, but I may also write articles.
  • User:Seuayan ravina - Specializing mainly in tropical plants and sometimes fossils.
  • Sheep81 - Dinosaurs, mostly. Perhaps a few other articles here and there.
  • Shinryuu - Pretty much anything there is to do, but especially micro-organisms
  • Shrumster - Ichthyologist by specialty, but I love animal systematics in general.
  • Shyamal - fauna and flora of the Indian subcontinent
  • Singing Badger, the No specialist knowledge but interested in improving stuff especially the prehistoric sections
  • Soo I seem to have become an accidental contributor to this project, but I thought I'd sign myself in anyway.
  • Sharktopus Mostly angiosperms and arthropods, but eager to work on shark-cephalopod hybrids if any appear.
  • SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼  – hominids, felids, caudates, ancestors of domesticates generally; albinism & other coloration genetics; founder effect in insular populations; taxonomy & nomenclature standards, and system-wide cleanup/consistency. BA in anthropology.
  • Spawn Man 22:48, 9 October 2005 (UTC) Happy to help the tree of life anytime!!Reply[reply]
  • Spida-tarbell - Happy to add/clean up references and taxoboxes; academic background is limited, but focused on population ecology. As a hobbyist, mostly interested in hymenoptera. Birder.
  • Stan Shebs fish, plants, insects, exotics - ideally material only in print previously, gives WP unique online content
  • Stanskis: Classification; Standard lists; Taxonomy in the service of Conservation and other uses. Broad background and dirty hands.
  • Stefan Mostly sharks and fishes. Started WikiProject Sharks
  • Stemonitis: chiefly Crustacea, but also anything else I come across.
  • Stephen Gilbert (interested in working on dinosaurs; I'm also one of the unwashed masses.)
  • Superfo Ducks, primates, marsupials, etc, I'll do whatever I can... I love life!
  • Svartulfr1 Mostly interested in animals, particularly mammals. However, I am interested in all living creatures and will participate where I find the time and the interest.
  • Swid Add/clean up taxoboxes, add scholarly references, clean up/expand articles created about newly-described species.
  • Tannin Mostly birds and mammals, particularly Southern Hemisphere species.
  • TeunSpaans Mostly plants, perhaps occasional insects. Creating interwiki links, adding a hand at expanding some stubs.
  • Theinsomniac4life (talk) 22:18, 13 May 2010 (UTC) Crinoids, and other marine invertebrates, extinct or extant.Reply[reply]
  • Thomas Whitebread Somewhat knowledged in plants and taxonomy. Here to improve stuff, I guess!
  • Tianyi Cai I joined this project to be able to edit entries with a focus on sexual selection, sperm competition and sexual conflict.
  • Tigershrike – a bit of everything, but especially birds.
  • Tkinias I just realized I'd never added my name. I've started WikiProject Fishes.
  • Tnarg Frogs, mostly Australian. However reptiles and other animals as well.
  • Tom.Reding AWB/OCD-fueled WikiGnome—cleaning, standardizing, updating, and improving IUCN-related pages.
  • TR001 Invasive species
  • Ucucha Taxonomy of mammals, mainly rodents, insectivores marsupials and bats but no carnivores and ungulates.
  • User:Ushakaron Working with Pteridophytes, Lycopodiophytes, and extinct plants.
  • UtherSRG General cleanup. Taxobox creation, formatting, maintenance. Projects Primates and Cephalopods.
  • Valich Phylogeny of Miacids (Miacoidae), Carnivora, some dog articles, "origin of life" topics, other articles as well
  • Visionholder Mostly involved in Primates, with a long-term goal of making all lemur articles GA-class or better. May also contribute to articles on any type of living or extinct creature.
  • Vsion Mostly on mammals.
  • Werothegreat Protists, and higher level classifications.
  • Wikiskimmer Eukaryotes, slime molds, fungi, insects, ants, botany.
  • Willow Non-expert, but eager to help. Avid gardener, some knowledge of microorganisms related to farming and foods.
  • Wloveral Insects, spiders, mites, other inverts, but also bats and palm trees.--Wloveral (talk) 16:40, 20 May 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]
  • WormRunner (earthworms, some other invertebrates and some plants, especially herbs, medicinal plants and Oregon natives.)
  • YorkshireExpat
  • Yummifruitbat Photos (my own) and content edits to pretty much anything; very slow translation of good articles from German wikipedia
  • Zefr: Plants, fungi and hummingbirds.
  • User:Amitsabhadiyaj eukaryotes, plant, fungi, algae, microbiology,
  • User:TigerScientist mammals mostly but also other animals.
  • Ratnahastin(t)(C) 06:20, 4 July 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
  • SpiritedMichelle: Pretty much anything to do with conservation
  • Steven Walling: mostly plantsqs lately

Userboxes[edit]

The following userboxes are available to add to your user page:

Sample articles[edit]

A number of articles under this WikiProject and its descendants have been recognized for their excellence by the Wikipedia community as featured articles or featured lists, and may serve as good models. The articles are sorted by WikiProject:

To do[edit]

New articles[edit]

To browse Tree of Life subjects that require articles, see the Tree of Life list of requested articles. If adding to the list of requests, make sure to include scientific names, as it will make it easier for others to track down information. One-sentence stubs are discouraged: try to create a worthwhile start class article, with a taxobox, and sources properly cited. When adding weblinks, look for standard references first, such as the IUCN and its sub-commissions.

Specific request lists also include:

  • Missing encyclopedic articles about animals.
  • Missing encyclopedic articles about plants
  • Requested articles about plants (botany)
  • Fact-check new biology articles nominated for "Did you know ...?" here. The link is to all nominated articles, but binomial species names are easy to pick out. Successful candidates will be linked to from our Main Page, so let's make them look good!

Cleanup[edit]

Please add {{missing-taxobox}} to the talk page of articles that need taxonomic information.

Articles needing taxoboxes

Articles needing attention[edit]

Articles needing attention

Assessment[edit]

Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/Assessment

Popular pages[edit]

Popular pages, a bot-generated list of pageviews, useful for focused cleanup of frequently viewed articles.

Quality operations[edit]

Quality operations, a bot-generated detail activity log.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to WikiProject Tree of Life.
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