Organized by the Biodiversity Committee of Chinese Academy of Sciences (BC-CAS), Catalogue of Life China 2015 Annual Checklist edition has been compiled by Species 2000 China Node. It is sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Environment Protection, published by Science Press and released on the International Biodiversity Day, May 22, 2015.

Consistent with the Species 2000 data standard, each species page includes scientific name, synonyms, common name, literature, classification system, distribution and Chinese name with Pinyin. The reviewers for each record are also listed.

There are 83290 species & infraspecific taxa in 2015 Annual Checklist of Catalogue of Life China, including 73255 species and 10035 infraspecific taxa. The groups of species (number of species, number of infraspecies):

[Animalia (Animals)] Annelida(488, 20); Arthropoda(17362, 1811); Brachiopoda(8, 0); Bryozoa(197, 0); Cnidaria(1518, 12); Echinodermata(588, 9); Echiura(11, 0); Entoprocta(8, 0); Hemichordata(7, 0); Mollusca(2302, 41); Myxozoa(39, 0); Nematoda(192, 0); Nemertea(58, 0); Phoronida(4, 0); Porifera(165, 7); Sipuncula(43, 1); Chordata(6098, 1934) [Agnatha(8, 0); Amphibian(410, 0); Bird(1373, 1791); Leptochordata(4, 0) ; Mammal(563, 115) ; Fish(3337, 16); Reptile(403, 12)].

[Bacteria] Actinobacteria(45, 0); Bacteroidetes(30, 0); Chloriobi(1, 0); Cyanobacteria(158, 5); Firmicutes(48, 0); Proteobacteria(181, 1).

[Chromista] Diatomeae(1245, 406); Oomycota(194, 13); Phaeophyta(292, 8).

[Fungi] Ascomycota (1753, 103); Basidiomycota(1579, 41).

[Plantae (Plants)] Angiosperm (30423, 4911); Lichen (2576, 178); Chlorophyta(199, 18); Gymnosperm (245, 78); Fern(2394, 200); Rhodophyta(496, 12).

[Protozoa] Amoebozoa(359, 15); Cercozoa(3, 0); Choanozoa(1, 0); Ciliophora(497, 1); Dinozoa(253, 50); Percolozoa(3, 0); Radiolaria(537, 10).

[Viruses] dsDNA viruses(368, 27); dsRNA viruses(35, 26); Nagative stranded ssRNA viruses(51, 12); Positive stranded ssRNA viruses(131, 56);  Retroviruses(5, 0); Reversetranscribing viruses(25, 9); ssDNA viruses(36, 20); Vivoid(4, 0).

The main changes in the 2015 Annual Checklist are:

[Animalia] There is a new order - Sarcoptiformes - under Arachnida of Arthropoda in 2015 Annual Checklist of Catalogue of Life China, 616 species & infraspecies to be added in the order. In the Insecta of Arthropoda, there are 579 species & infraspecies, 957 synonyms to be added in Diptera, 990 species & infraspecies to be updated in Lepidoptera, 86 species & infraspecies, 1 synonyms to be added and 7 species & infraspecies to be updated in Orthoptera. In Chordata, there are 62 species & infraspecies to be added and 250 species & infraspecies to be updated in Anura, 28 species& infraspecies to be added and 43 species & infraspecies to be updated in Caudata.

[Chromista] There is a new phylum - Oomycota - in 2015 Annual Checklist of Catalogue of Life China, 207 species & infraspecies and 122 synonyms to be added in the phyla.

[Fungi] There is a new phylum - Ascomycota - in 2015 Annual Checklist of Catalogue of Life China, 1856 species & infraspecies and 2100 synonyms to be added in the phyla.

[Plantae] In the Angiospermae, there are 165 species & infraspecies to be added and 1 species to be updated. In the Pteridophyta, there are 3 species& infraspecies to be added.

[Protozoa] There are 2 new phyla in 2015 Annual Checklist of Catalogue of Life China, Cercozoa and Choanozoa, 3 and 1 species & infraspecies to be added in the 2 phyla, respectively. There are 1046 synonyms to be added in Amoebozoa.

The national annual species checklist has been compiled and released since 2008 by the participants of Species 2000 China Node, together with more than 100 domestic and overseas taxonomists. It follows the data standard of the Standard Dataset of the Species 2000, and provides the Catalogue of Life China to all users in the world.

Users are encouraged to provide feedback to the Secretariat of Species 2000 China Node. Enquires about this CD-ROM, the databases or Species 2000 China Node should also be directed to:

Secretariat of Species 2000 China Node

Biodiversity Committee，Chinese Academy of Sciences

Contact person: Maofang Luo

Tel: 86-10-62836603

Fax: 86-10-82591781

E-mail:   maofang@ibcas.ac.cn

(The 2015 Annual Checklist could also be available at www.sp2000.cn.)