Australian Biological Resources Study
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The Zoological Catalogue of Australia database is a source of taxonomic and biological knowledge of the Australian fauna.
The Zoological Catalogue of Australia is being compiled as a public enquiry database and will serve as a directory to the most comprehensive and recent information available on each species of the Australian fauna. The Zoological Catalogue of Australia is being incorporated in and made available on the WWW under the Australian Faunal Directory.
The Zoological Catalogue of Australia is of great value and interest to taxonomists, zoogeographers, fauna survey and management authorities, ecologists, environmental consultants, public health and veterinary authorities, and others who require information on the nomenclature, taxonomy and biology of the Australian fauna.
Information on each species includes synonymy, literature citation, location and status of type material and type locality for each available name, a brief summary of geographical distribution and ecological attributes, host data if available, and important references on various aspects, especially biology.
The Zoological Catalogue of Australia aims to cite by name and original reference all species known from Australia. Australia is defined as including Lord Howe Is., Norfolk Is., Macquarie Is., Australian Antarctic Territory, Cocos (Keeling) Ils, Christmas Is., Ashmore and Cartier Ils, Heard and McDonald Ils, and the waters associated with these land areas of Australian political responsibility.
The Zoological Catalogue of Australia is also being produced in book form, as a series of volumes. Taxa are divided among volumes to form sets of about 1800-2000 species available names, such that each volume comprises the whole or part of one or more major groups. Initially, volume numbers were assigned consecutively to volumes as they were published. from Volume 11, the numbering sequence is basically phylogenetic. Several volumes depart from this systematic arrangement, instead containing convenient assemblages of taxa, e.g. Volume 6: the aquatic insect orders and Volume 8: Non-Marine Mollusca. Authors and publication dates are given for published sections of the Zoological Catalogue of Australia.
Twenty nine volumes of the Zoological Catalogue of Australia, derived from the Catalogue database (Platypus), have been published. Three further volumes, covering all of Australia's fishes, will be published in the coming year and after that production of hard-copy Catalogue volumes will be discontinued. The online version of the Zoological Catalogue of Australia, the Australian Faunal Directory continues to be populated with new and updated taxonomic groups.
Platypus, a comprehensive, relational database package developed by ABRS for taxon-based work, is used to compile, manage and to automate the preparation of the published Zoological Catalogue of Australia. This method yields a standard format and provides consistency in the presentation of the data. The format and style of presentation, therefore, are the responsibility of the Australian Biological Resources Study. The authors of each section are responsible only for the information content. Platypus may be downloaded from the Internet and trialed free of charge.
Enquiries concerning the Zoological Catalogue of Australia database, access to information on the database, and Platypus should be addressed to:
Series Manager, Zoological Catalogue of Australia
Australian Biological Resources Study
GPO Box 787, Canberra, ACT 2601, AUSTRALIA.
Email: abrs@deh.gov.au