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Welcome to Wikispecies The free species directory that anyone can edit. It covers Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Bacteria, Archaea, Protista and all other forms of life. So far we have 312,344 articles Wikispecies is free, because life is in the public domain!

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Narceus americanus	Pheucticus ludovicianus	Trichopoda pennipes	Asclepias incarnata	Pheucticus ludovicianus

Explore Wikispecies HELP Section -- Detailed information on creating pages. Taxonomy -- Information on the Linnaean classification of species. Village Pump -- Discuss the project. Done and To Do -- See references to very detailed areas and defined future targets Wikispecies FAQ -- Check replies to common concerns. Image Guidelines -- Our recommendation on where to upload illustrations Wikispecies PR -- Help us by spreading the word of Wikispecies Collaboration with ZooKeys A collaboration between Wikispecies and ZooKeys has been announced. PhytoKeys also joined the collaboration in November 2010. Images of species from ZooKeys and PhytoKeys will be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons and used in Wikispecies. Distinguished Author José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage   (1823-1907). A Portuguese zoologist and politician. He was the curator of Zoology at the Museum of Natural History in Lisbon. His work at the Museum consisted in acquiring, describing and coordinating collections, many of which arrived from the Portuguese colonies in Africa, such as Angola, Mozambique, etc. He published more than 200 taxonomic papers on mammals, birds, and fishes. In the 1880s he became the Minister of the Navy and later the Minister for Foreign Affairs for Portugal. The zoology collection at the Lisbon Museum is called the Bocage Museum in his honor. He was responsible for identifying many new species, which he named according to the naturalist who found them.

Species of the week Black Périgord Truffle Tuber melanosporum Tuber melanosporum Some facts on this fungus: Weight: 10 to 100 grams. Range: Mainly southern Europe. Habitat: Well drained, aerated calcareous soils with high porosity. Price: $1000 per kilo. Main producing countries: France 45%, Spain 35% and Italy 20%. Annual production: 20 metric tonnes per year. First described: By the Italian doctor and mycologist Carlo Vittadini in 1831. Tuber melanosporum looks like an heap of mud, yet it's one of the most expensive foodstuffs. It is a highly appreciated delicacy which many wealthy gastronomes consider the king of all fungi. The truffles are shaved sparingly over the dish to add a savory flavor. Truffles are the fruiting bodies of fungi that typically form in a symbiotic relationship on the roots of truffle oaks, often less than 30 cm below the surface. It is almost impossible to cultivate truffles which grow randomly in certain regions. Since the elusive tubers cannot be seen, specially trained sows and dogs are employed to find them. The black truffle belongs to the Tuberaceae family of fungi whose ascocarps (fruiting bodies) resemble tubers and vary in size from that of an acorn to that of a large apple.

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