NOTICE: The ZooBank website has been experiencing extremely high demand recently.
We are working on a solution, but it may continue to be slower than normal.
We apologize for the inconvenience, and appreciate your patience!
 

What is ZooBank?

Vision: ZooBank is a central, authoritative and comprehensive resource for scientific names in zoology.
Mission: ZooBank provides an authoritative online, open-access, community-generated registry for zoological nomenclature, as a service to taxonomists, biologists, and the global biodiversity informatics community.

It is the Official Register of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN).

What Gets Registered in ZooBank?

Currently, ZooBank accomodates the registration of four different kinds of data objects:

How Can I Access ZooBank Content?

Near the top of most ZooBank pages is a text box and a ‘Search’ button. Enter search text in the box and click the ‘Search’ button to see matching ZooBank records of Authors, Publications, and Nomenclatural Acts. Entering multiple words separated by spaces will return records containing all of the individual words. Searches are not case-sensitive.

In addition to the search features, ZooBank content may be accessed programatically via various web services and APIs.

How Can I Contribute to the ZooBank Registry?

Create an Account - On the ZooBank Home Page is a button to ‘Create an Account’ in ZooBank (this button is only visible when you are not already logged in to ZooBank). Click this button and follow the instructions for creating a new login account. Once the account has been established, you may start adding content to ZooBank. You may also edit content that you created.

Please watch the series of ZooBank Video Tutorials for a basic introduction to using the ZooBank website.

Edit Content - To edit content in ZooBank that was created by other users, you must be sponsored by an existing ZooBank Editor, and/or become a recognized ZooBank Editor yourself. Sponsorship entails establishing a line of reference, with the sponsor agreeing to support your statement of your professional code of conduct and capability in editing this global resource. We welcome editorial input, but request clear lines of communication and an agreement to adhere to established professional standards. Please contact the ZooBank webmaster by email at admin[at]zoobank.org to learn more.'

Provide content by email - If you would like to provide content to ZooBank but do not wish to establish your own user account, or if you are having trouble using the ZooBank website, you can send content by email. Please submit the following details to admin[at]zoobank.org:

  •  Full names (including middle names, if used) of all authors of the work containing the nomenclatural acts, exactly as they will appear in the by-line of the work. If first or middle names are abbreviated in the by-line, please provide the full versions anyway.
  •  Full citation details, including full title and full journal name (if applicable), of the work containing the nomenclatural acts. If the work is not yet published (i.e., prospective registration), then provide at least the full title and full journal name (if applicable).
  •  For each new genus-group name, include the original spelling of the genus, the type species of the genus, and page number on which the description of the new genus begins (if available).
  •  For each new species-group name, include the original spelling of the specific name (i.e., the species epithet), the original genus in which the new species was placed, information on the type specimen(s) of the new species-group name (Collection acronym and catalog number, if available), type locality (as originally published), and page number on which the description of the new species begins (if available). If the new species-group name is established within a pre-existing genus, then full citation details (including full author names, as above) of the publication in which the genus-group name was originally described are also required (so the genus-group name can be registered itself). This should be referenced in the paper describing the new species, though ideally it should be checked in its original version if possible. As ZooBank increases in content, it is increasingly likely that the genus in question may be registered already. We appreciate any efforts you make to check current content and provide feedback on its accuracy.

Please allow a few days for a reply, and we request that you follow up with an email alerting us when the work has been published.

Approved Online Archives

ZooBank Documents