1. Everything you wanted to know about the
Australian fauna: the on-line
Australian Fauna Directory
Andy Austin
Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity
The University of Adelaide
Alice Wells and Christy Geromboux
Australian Biological Resources Study
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population
& Communities, ACT

2. ABRS 2013 – Celebrating its 40th anniversary!

3. ABRS Printed Catalogues
Zoological Catalogues of Australia

4. Australian Faunal Directory –
History and Development
• AFD was initiated in 2001
• Has grown slowly since then
• Expanded by ABRS staff and short-term contracts with
researchers to complete specific groups
• In 2010 ABRS initiated a program to accelerated the AFD to
bring it up to date
• Funding support from the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA)
• Oracle 11 database with two Java web applications (the
editor and the public pages), and a web services layer

5. Total species/subspecies in AFD – last 3 years
140000
120000
80000
Currently 118,834 species/subspecies;
29,500 new species names added sine
June 2010, and a further 37,000
updated : 35% increase
60000
40000
Sep…
May…
Jan…
Sep…
May…
Sep…
May…
Jan…
0
Sep…
20000
Jan…
Now more than 90%+ complete overall, and
98%+ for terrestrial invertebrates
May…
Number of species
100000

6. www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/fauna/afd/home
1. A taxonomic catalogue of all valid species names for the Australian
fauna
2. Includes biological/ecological details for many groups
3. Co-operative effort by scientists and ABRS
4. Publicly accessible, free, maintained on an Australian Govt server
5. Online Editor for updating, controlled access
6. Allows for significant data analysis

7. Search by
name

8. Search by Group

10. The Checklist

11. Species information

12. Down-loads — Various forms
 Simple names list or complete catalogue
 CSV files (~Excel spreadsheet)
 Statistics
 Host-parasite or plant food lists
 Regional species lists (e.g. Lord Howe Is)
 Reference lists
 Potentially many more (Dist’n maps, images) BUT depends
on what data are available

13. Generate statistics
for any valid/accepted taxon

14. Generate host-parasite or food plant lists

15. Bibliographies
(approx. 105,000 references)

16. The on-line editor
Functions by:
• ABRS assignment of section (taxon) to compiler
• Compiler able to work anywhere with internet access
• Once finished, section assigned back to ABRS
• Checked by ABRS
• Copied to the AFD Public web app. (replaces earlier
section)
• History of changes and compilers are stored in
database

17. The Described Terrestrial Arthropod Fauna
Myriapoda
(700 spp.)
(70 spp.)
Onychophora
Hexapoda
(67,400 spp.)
Arachnida
(7,400 spp.)

18. The Described Hexapod Fauna
Minor orders
1,050 spp.
Blattodea
1,500 spp.
Orthoptera
Thysanoptera
Hymenoptera
11,660 spp.
Lepidoptera
10,800 spp.
Diptera
8,500 spp.
Trichoptera
Hemiptera
5,700 spp..
870 spp.
Neuroptera
560 spp.
Coleoptera
23,800 spp.

19. Total valid species for 5 major insect groups and mites in Australia
25000
20000
Total valid names
Coleoptera
15000
Lepidoptera
10000
Hymenoptera
5000
Diptera
Hemiptera
Acari
0
1750
1800
1850
1900
Year
1950
2000

20. Applications of the AFD?
First complete catalogue of a country/continental fauna
• Primary data for taxonomic research –
history, literature, type depositories, etc
• Checking valid names (spelling) for Govt agencies
(agriculture), biodiversity studies, journal editors, etc
• Biosecurity issues
• Distributional data for ecological
research, conservation, etc

21. The future of AFD?
• Depends on systematics community support for data
entry
• Perceived value to potential users including branches
of Government
• Input of $$$$ from Government, possibly from users?

22. Acknowledgements
• ABRS staff Pam Beesley, Brigitte Kuchlmayr
• AFD contributors/compilers/referees
• ANBG/ABRS IT team
• Australian Government
• ALA for recent funding