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Fauna Europaea provides a public web-service with an index of scientific names (including important synonyms) of all extant European terrestrial and freshwater animals, their geographical distribution at the level of countries and major islands (west of the Urals and excluding the Caucasus region), and some additional information. The Fauna Europaea project comprises about 230,000 taxonomic names, including 130,000 accepted species and 14,000 accepted subspecies, which is much more than the originally projected number of 100,000 species. Fauna Europaea represents a huge effort by more than 400 contributing specialists throughout Europe and is a unique (standard) reference suitable for many users in science, government, industry, nature conservation and education. For the Hymenoptera, taxonomic data from one grade (Symphyta) and one Superfamily (Ichneumonoidea), including 15 families and 10,717 species, are included. Ichneumonoidea is the largest superfamily of Hymenoptera and consisting of two extant families, Ichneumonidae and Braconidae. The costal cell of the fore wing is absent, the fore wing has at least two closed cells, the constriction between the mesosoma (thorax + first abdominal segment or propodeum) and the metasoma (remainder of abdomen) is distinct and the parasitoid larvae usually spin a silken cocoon. Also, the metasoma is ventrally partly desclerotized in the vast majority of ichneumonoids.

The number of described species on the planet is about 1.9 million, with ca. 17,000 new species described annually, mostly from the tropics. However, taxonomy is usually described as a science in crisis, lacking manpower and funding, a politically acknowledged problem known as the Taxonomic Impediment. Using data from the Fauna Europaea database and the Zoological Record, we show that contrary to general belief, developed and heavily-studied parts of the world are important reservoirs of unknown species. In Europe, new species of multicellular terrestrial and freshwater animals are being discovered and named at an unprecedented rate: since the 1950s, more than 770 new species are on average described each year from Europe, which add to the 125,000 terrestrial and freshwater multicellular species already known in this region. There is no sign of having reached a plateau that would allow for the assessment of the magnitude of European biodiversity. More remarkably, over 60% of these new species are described by non-professional taxonomists. Amateurs are recognized as an essential part of the workforce in ecology and astronomy, but the magnitude of non-professional taxonomist contributions to alpha-taxonomy has not been fully realized until now. Our results stress the importance of developing a system that better supports and guides this formidable workforce, as we seek to overcome the Taxonomic Impediment and speed up the process of describing the planetary biodiversity before it is too late. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036881

Non-professional taxonomists have been responsible for describing more than half of the animal species discovered in Europe from 1998 to 2007 (see also Nature 467, 788; 2010). The extraordinary current rate of description of new species makes Europe an unexpected frontier for biodiversity exploration. The Fauna Europaea database (http://www.faunaeur.org), released in 2004, lists more than 125,000 European species of multicellular terrestrial and freshwater animals. More than 700 new species are described each year in Europe — four times the rate of two centuries ago. However, we have not yet reached saturation in the inventory of European fauna, and we cannot accurately estimate the total number of species living in the continent's ecosystems.

The genealogical relationships in the green algal genus Microspora (Chlorophyceae) are determined by phylogenetic analysis based on 15 ecological, morphological and reproductive characters. It is found that the traditional defining characters like cell shape and distinctness of the H-shaped pieces (composing the cell wall) play a major role in rooting of the cladograms and that species – forming a prominent rope-like growth habit in rapid streams – are closely related. It is suggested that the pH value of the habitat proves to give a more substantial phylogenetic signal than the type of water movement.

A cladistic analysis, based on a taxonomic revision is carried out for 7 Acanthophora species using 19 characters. Hypotheses on species affinities are based primarily on morphological characters. Because most species show only few distinctive characters, emphasis was placed on features of spine development, either in relation to vegetative or to reproductive structures. Global distribution of 7 Acanthophora species: viz. A. aokii, A. dendroides, A. muscoides, A. nayadiformis, A. pacifica, A. ramulosa, and A. spicifera, shows a discontinuous pattern. Although widely distributed species are present (A. muscoides and A. spicifera), a disjunct distribution of other species occurs in the Pacific (A. aokii), Indian Ocean (A. dendroides), East-Atlantic region (A. ramulosa), and the Mediterranean and Red Sea (A. nayadiformis). Information on the historical background of the species distribution can be inferred from the obtained phylogenetic tree.