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MolluscaBase
Citable as data publication
MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Accessed at https://www.molluscabase.org on yyyy-mm-dd. https://doi.org/10.14284/448
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Availability:
This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Description
MolluscaBase is a taxonomically oriented database which aims to provide an authoritative, permanently updated account of all molluscan species. more
Mollusca are the second largest animal phylum on Earth after arthropods. The number of valid Recent species is currently estimated around 50,000 to 55,000 marine, 25,000 to 30,000 terrestrial and 6,000 to 7,000 freshwater. The number of fossil species is not known accurately, but is in the same order of magnitude and may range between 60,000 (a conservative guess, Taylor & Lewis, 2007) and more than 100,000 species.
Mollusca are the second largest animal phylum on Earth after arthropods. The number of valid Recent species is currently estimated around 50,000 to 55,000 marine, 25,000 to 30,000 terrestrial and 6,000 to 7,000 freshwater. The number of fossil species is not known accurately, but is in the same order of magnitude and may range between 60,000 (a conservative guess, Taylor & Lewis, 2007) and more than 100,000 species.
Subject to availability, the following information is provided for taxa included in MolluscaBase:
- Accepted (valid) name
- Classification (presented with a parent/child hierarchy)
- Synonyms
- Reference of original description and other relevant literature sources
- Type locality and distribution
- Stratigraphic range
- Traits (environment, feeding type, host/parasite relationship) and notes
- Images
Scope
Themes:
Biology, Biology > Ecology - biodiversity, Biology > Invertebrates
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal, Fresh water, Brackish water, Terrestrial, Classification, Fossils, Species, Taxonomy, World, Mollusca
Geographical coverage
World [Marine Regions]
Temporal coverage
From 1758 on [In Progress]
Taxonomic coverage
Mollusca [WoRMS]
Parameters
Taxonomy
Contributors
Auffenberg, Kurt, taxonomic editor
Bank, Ruud, taxonomic editor
Bieler, Rüdiger, taxonomic editor
Bouchet, Philippe, taxonomic editor
Collins, Katie, taxonomic editor
Dekker, Henk, taxonomic editor
Faber, Marien, taxonomic editor
Garcia-Alvarez, Oscar, taxonomic editor
Godoy, Miguel Ángel, taxonomic editor
Gofas, Serge, taxonomic editor
Herbert, Dai, taxonomic editor
Houart, Roland, taxonomic editor
Janssen, Ronald, taxonomic editor
Kabat, Alan, taxonomic editor
Kantor, Yuri, taxonomic editor
Karapunar, Baran, taxonomic editor
Kovács, Zoltan, taxonomic editor
Köhler, Frank, taxonomic editor
Marshall, Bruce, taxonomic editor
Neubauer, Thomas A., taxonomic editor
Neubert, Eike, taxonomic editor
Nielsen, Sven, taxonomic editor
Picton, Bernard, taxonomic editor
Páll-Gergely, Barna, taxonomic editor
Richling, Ira, taxonomic editor
Romani, Luigi, taxonomic editor
Rosenberg, Gary, taxonomic editor
Schneider, Simon, taxonomic editor
Taylor, John, taxonomic editor
ter Poorten, Jan Johan, taxonomic editor
Todd, Jonathan, taxonomic editor
Vinarski, Maxim, taxonomic editor
Vos, Chris, taxonomic editor
Wieneke, Ulrich, taxonomic editor
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), more, database developer
MolluscaBase eds., more, data creator
Related datasets
Published in:
WoRMS: World Register of Marine Species, more
Dataset status: In Progress
Data type: Data
Data origin: Literature research
Metadatarecord created: 2016-05-12
Information last updated: 2025-01-07