The Catalogue of Life (COL) stores information on species and their distribution across the globe. It consists of a single integrated species checklist and taxonomic hierarchy. The Catalogue holds essential information on the names, relationships and distributions of over 1.8 million species. This figure continues to rise as information is compiled from diverse sources around the world. The Catalogue of Life provides critical species information on: synonymy enabling the effective referral of alternative species names to an accepted name; higher taxa within which a species is clustered; and distribution identifying the global regions from which a species is known.