Updates to this page are on hold. For information about Data Sources, Contributors, and Stewards from August 2002 and prior, see the text below.

Data Sources, Contributors and Stewards

For summary of the status of data in ITIS, please see the ITIS Data Status Summary Table.

Amphibians - ITIS is current for North American species based upon the USGS Biological Resources Division's unpublished and expanded update of the 1987 Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada, and additional information provided by Roy McDiarmid, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, and Darrel Frost, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, the ITIS stewards for amphibians. ITIS has also integrated a list of Mexican amphibians, contributed by Mexico's Comision Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO http://www.conabio.gob.mx), based on the following reference:

Flores-Villela, Oscar. 1993. Herpetofauna Mexicana. Lista anotada de las especies de anfibios y reptiles de México, cambios taxonómicos recientes, y nuevas especies. Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Special Publication (17):1-73.

Amphipods - John Holsinger, Department of Biological Sciences Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, is compiling a database of amphipod crustaceans in the families Crangonyctidae and Hadziidae (http://sci.odu.edu/biology/directory/Holsinger/jrh), with a focus on subterranean taxa. As John completes each list they will be integrated into ITIS. World species of the genus Crangonyx have been added to ITIS based on the 2/24/2000 version of The Subterraneum Amphipod Database  (http://web.odu.edu/sci/biology/amphipod/index.html). John's work with ITIS is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation PEET Program (Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy).

Ants/parasitoid wasps - ITIS is current for ant species and subspecies of the world as of July 2001 based on data provided by Norman F. Johnson, Department of Entomology, Museum of Biological Diversity, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Norm has also provided a world list of parasitoid wasp species of the superfamily Ceraphronoidea. This is the first of three parasitoid wasp superfamilies (Proctotuproidea and Platygasteroidea forthcoming) to be provided, supported by a grant to Norm from the National Science Foundation PEET Program. Ant and parasitoid wasp data are from the source: http://atbi.biosci.ohio-state.edu:8880/hymenoptera/nomenclator.home_page.

Beetles (Coleoptera) - ITIS is processing data for North American beetle lists that were provided by Margaret Thayer, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois. Margaret is the ITIS steward and has coordinated the work of many Coleopterists for ITIS.

Birds - ITIS has been fully updated for the world taxonomy of birds based upon modifications and updates of Sibley and Monroe's Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World, to reflect as faithfully as possible the American Ornithologists' Union's Checklist of North American Birds, 7^th ed., 1998, and the USGS Biological Resources Division's unpublished and expanded update of the 1987 Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada. Alan Peterson, Walla Walla, Washington (http://www.zoonomen.net/) and Richard Banks, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, are the ITIS stewards for birds.

Cephalopods (squids, octopuses, etc.) - ITIS has been updated with a world list of cephalopods provided by Mike Sweeney and Clyde Roper, Department of Systematic Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, and Mike Vecchione, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, based on the following reference:

Sweeney, M. J. and C. F. E. Roper. 1998. Classification, type localities and type repositories of recent Cephalopoda, pp. 561-599, In N. A. Voss, M. Vecchione, R. B. Toll, and M. J. Sweeney (eds.), Systematics and Biogeography of Cephalopods. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, no. 586 (I - II).

Mike Sweeney serves as the ITIS steward for Cephalopods.

Copepods - ITIS is current for Mexican freshwater copepods from the following publication, and further input from its authors:

Crocodiles - ITIS is current for the world with data from several sources. Roy McDiarmid, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, serves as the steward for crocodiles. ITIS has also integrated a list of Mexican crocodiles, contributed by Mexico's Comision Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO http://www.conabio.gob.mx), based on the reference mentioned above under Amphibians.

Decapoda (crabs, lobsters, shrimp, etc.) - ITIS is current for selected decapod groups based upon the following references:

Diatoms - With assistance from Russell G. Kreis, Jr., US Environmental Protection Agency, Mid-Continent Ecology Division, Grosse Ile, MI, and J. Patrick Kociolek, Executive Director and Hanna Chair & Associate Curator of Diatoms, Invertebrate Zoology & Geology, California Academy of Sciences, ITIS has added a checklist of the diatoms of the Great Lakes, based on the following reference:

Further work to account for other North American species is expected to take place in the future, based on data from Pat and other sources.

Diptera (flies, mosquitoes, gnats, bots, etc.) - ITIS data reflect the 1986 work coordinated by Chris Thompson, Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Washington, DC. Chris Thompson is the ITIS steward for this group and coordinates the BioSystematic Database of World Diptera with Neal Evenhuis, Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI. See the Diptera Web site (http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/Diptera/biosys.htm) for more information about the BDWD. Further updates to ITIS are planned after the release of the next version of the BDWD, expected in 2001 or 2002.

Ephemeroptera (mayflies) - ITIS has been updated based on Mayfly Central’s database (http://www.entm.purdue.edu/entomology/research/mayfly/mayfly.html) (version February 2001) for North and Central America.  Mayfly Central is a program located in the Purdue University Department of Entomology, and is maintained by the efforts of W. P. McCafferty and a series of specialists.

Fishes - ITIS is current for North American freshwater fishes from data provided by Wayne Starnes, North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, North Carolina, through the USGS Biological Resources Division's unpublished and expanded update of the 1987 Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada. Chondricthyes of the world are current in ITIS. Bony fishes current in ITIS are those represented in Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) catalogs, with input from Bruce Collette, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Ongoing work to complete and reconcile species lists for all bony fishes of the world is based upon William Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes work (http://www.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/index.html) and other sources.

Fungi - Amy Rossman, Agriculture Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland is the current ITIS steward for Fungi, and others are contributing to the development of fungal data for ITIS. Hypogeous fungi (truffles and false truffles) are the first fungal groups to be critically reviewed and updated by North American expert Robert Fogel, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Lichen data is being developed under the guidance of Paula DePriest, Associate Curator, Department of Systematic Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Agaric data and various plant pathogen groups will follow.

Isopoda (pill bugs, etc.) - ITIS reflects the 1994 version of the World List of Marine and Freshwater Crustacea - Isopoda provided by Brian Kensley and Marilyn Schotte, Department of Systematic Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Brian Kensley is the ITIS Steward for Isopods. ITIS has added a world list of terrestrial isopods based on the following works:

• World List of Terrestrial Crustacea Isopoda (Oniscidea) (version 1998), compiled by Kensley, B., S. Schilling, and M. Schotte.
• Leistikow, A. and J.W. Wägele.  1999.  Checklist of the terrestrial isopods of the new world (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea).  Revista Brasileira Zoologie, vol. 16, no. 1, pp.1-72. 

Leeches (Hirudinea) - Current data for North American leeches follows the taxonomy of Sawyer (1986):

Sawyer, R. T. 1986. Leech Biology and Behaviour, Volume 2. Feeding, biology, ecology, and systematics. Clarendon Press, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-857622-6.

This information was provided by Donald Klemm, US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH, and Bill Moser, Department of Systematic Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Donald Klemm and Bill Moser are the ITIS stewards for leeches.

Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) - An updated list of the butterflies and moths of North America is being developed by a number of cooperators, including Ron Hodges, Paul Opler, John Brown, Don Lafontaine, and many other Lepidoptera specialists. This list will be integrated into ITIS, probably starting with the butterflies.

Lichens - The ITIS data steward for lichen data is Paula DePriest, Associate Curator, Department of Systematic Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. The current data set was provided cooperatively by Robert Egan, University of Nebraska at Omaha and Theodore Esslinger, North Dakota State University (http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/esslinge/chcklst/chcklst7.htm) and meets ITIS standards; it was uploaded from the PLANTS database (http://plants.usda.gov).

Liverworts and hornworts - The data set for liverworts and hornworts was developed cooperatively by Ray Stotler and Barbara Crandell-Stotler, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and uploaded from the PLANTS database (http://plants.usda.gov). The current liverwort list is partial and is expected to be expanded and updated to a first iteration list for the continent.

Lizards - ITIS is current for North American species based primarily on data from the USGS Biological Resources Division's unpublished and expanded update of the 1987 Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada, and additional information provided by Roy McDiarmid, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, who is the steward for lizards. ITIS has also integrated a list of Mexican lizards, contributed by Mexico's Comision Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO, http://www.conabio.gob.mx), based on the reference mentioned above under Amphibians.

Mammals - ITIS is current for North American species based upon the USGS Biological Resources Division's unpublished and expanded update of the 1987 Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada, and additional information provided by Alfred Gardner, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

ITIS is currently working through each mammal group, to complete them for the world, based on data from the following primary references:

Wilson, D. E. and D. M. Reeder, eds. 1993. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 2nd ed., revised. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, DC.

Rice, D. W. 1998. Marine Mammals of the World: Systematics and Distribution. Special Publications of the Society for Marine Mammals, no. 4. The Society for Marine Mammalogy, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.

Dr. Al Gardner is the ITIS steward for North American mammals. Dr. James G. Mead, Department of Systematic Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, is ITIS steward for marine mammals. Dr. Don Wilson, also of the Department of Systematic Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, is steward for the remaining taxa.

Mantophasmatodea - a newly described insect order has been added to ITIS based on the reference:

Klass, Klaus-D., O. Zompro, N. P. Kristensen, and J. Adis, 2002. Mantophasmatodea: A new insect order with extant members in the Afrotropics. Science, vol. 296, no. 5572:1456-1459.

Millipeds - ITIS has supported the development and loading of a milliped checklist by Richard Hoffman, Virginia Museum of Natural History, Martinsville, VA, that covers North and Middle America, as well as the East and West Indies. This work is now complete in ITIS, based on the following publication:

Hoffman, Richard L. 1999. Checklist of the Millipeds of North and Middle America. Virginia Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 8.

Mollusks - ITIS has loaded the complete list of mollusk species from the reference below, with assistance from Paul Scott, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, California and Alan Peterson, Walla Walla, Washington. Paul Scott is the ITIS steward for mollusks.

Turgeon et al., eds. 1998. Common and Scientific Names of Aquatic Invertebrates from the United States and Canada: Mollusks, second edition. AFS Special Publication 26.

Mosses - The reviewed list of mosses within ITIS was developed cooperatively by Lewis Anderson and Molly McMullen, Duke University, and uploaded from the PLANTS database (http://plants.usda.gov). This list is expected to be superceded by a checklist from the Flora of North America and Marshall Crosby, Missouri Botanical Garden in the future. Marshall Crosby, Missouri Botanical Garden is the steward for mosses.

Odonata (dragonflies) - ITIS has been updated with a list of New World Odonata provided by Rosser W. Garrison, L.A. County Agricultural Commissioner's Office, Azusa, CA, based on his work on "A Synonymic List of the New World Odonata" (http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/NewWorldOD.html).

Oligochaete worms - The ITIS data steward for oligochaetes is Mark J. Wetzel, Illinois Natural History Survey, Center for Biodiversity, Champaign, IL. Mark is currently helping to revise ITIS oligochaete data for North America, and, for some groups, for the World. Updates are expected on a group by group basis. Mark is working with Dr. John W. Reynolds on "Nomenclatura Oligochaetologica - Supplementum Quartum. A catalogue of names, descriptions and type specimens of the Oligochaeta."

Plecoptera (stoneflies) - ITIS has updated the stoneflies based on the North American Stonefly List (version 2/16/01) by Bill P. Stark, Professor of Biology at Mississippi College, Clinton, MS.  See (http://www.mc.edu/campus/users/stark/) and (http://www.mc.edu/campus/users/stark/Sfly0102.htm).

Polychaete worms - The polychaete hierarchy down to the genus level has been updated in ITIS based upon Fauchald and Rouse (1997):

Fauchald, K. and G. W. Rouse. 1997. Polychaete systematics: Past and present. Zoologica Scripta 26(2): 71-138.

A complete list of species of Polychaeta for the world is expected to be provided to ITIS in the future by Kristian Fauchald, Department of Systematic Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, who is the ITIS steward for polychaetes.

Sea anemones, corals, and their allies (excluding Scleractinia, stony corals) - Dr. Daphne G. Fautin, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Kansas, is ITIS steward for this group, and is compiling data to be added to ITIS. A world list of sea anemones of the Order Actiniaria have been added to ITIS, based on her website Sea Anemones of the World at (http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/anemone2). The work of Daphne and her students with the ITIS project is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation's PEET Program (Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy).

Scleractinia (hard or stony corals) - ITIS has loaded the complete world species list for this group based on data provided by Stephen Cairns, Department of Systematic Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, as published in the reference:

Cairns, Stephen D., Bert W. Hoeksema and Jacob van der Land. Appendix 1: List of extant stony corals. In Cairns, Stephen D. 1999. Species richness of recent Scleractinia. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 59. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Washington, DC, USA. p. 46.

Snakes - ITIS is current for North American species based primarily on data from the USGS Biological Resources Division's unpublished and expanded update of the 1987 Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada, and for select other species from Snake Species of the World, A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference by R.W. McDiarmid, J.A. Campbell and T.A. Touré (vol. 1 - 1999; vols. 2 and 3 in progress), through Roy McDiarmid, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, who is the steward for snakes. Eventually, all snakes will be included in ITIS. ITIS has also integrated a list of Mexican snakes, contributed by Mexico's Comision Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO), based on the reference mentioned above under Amphibians.

Trichoptera (caddisflies) - The ITIS database has been updated based on the Trichoptera World Checklist of January 2001 (http://entweb.clemson.edu/database/trichopt/) coordinated by John Morse, Clemson University, Clemson, SC.  John Morse is the ITIS steward for caddisflies. 

Turtles - ITIS is current for the world with data from multiple sources as provided by Roy McDiarmid, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, who is the steward for turtles. ITIS has also integrated a list of Mexican turtles, contributed by Mexico's Comision Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO http://www.conabio.gob.mx), based on the reference mentioned above under Amphibians.

Vascular Plants - ITIS reflects North American plant species based upon the cooperative work of John Kartesz, Biota of North America Program, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the PLANTS database (http://plants.usda.gov) as of March 2000. Scott Peterson, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, is the ITIS steward for vascular plants.