We are building a DNA reference library of the eukaryotic species in Europe.
The iBOL Europe community aims at accelerating the completion of a DNA barcode reference library of European species. An essential component of this objective is a comprehensive analysis of existing gaps in the barcode databases.
We present an updated list of the animal species that occur in Europe according to various taxonomic databases. Together with the species names and their taxonomic classification, we show to what extent they are represented in the BOLD database. This Gap List was produced as part of the Biodiversity Genomics Europe project.
The list prioritises species for DNA barcoding, based on their coverage at the species level, in the reference database as follows:
- 0-2 barcode reference sequences available – high priority
- 3-9 barcode reference sequences available – medium priority
- 10 or more barcode reference sequences available – low priority
The list is regularly updated.
The repository of species data files and an advanced data cleaning pipeline for processing taxonomic information and synonyms and the repository for aggregating target list, container data and public data for the BGE target list are available on GitHub.
How to use the Gap List?
Enter the name of a species or group in the search bar. For now, it only works with Latin names, so “sea slugs” won’t work – but “Nudibranchia” will.
The “view table” button leads you to an overview at the species level which you can scroll through on-screen or, which you can also download as a table (CSV) and edit locally.
What if a name is not there?
The Gap List is based on several source databases (BOLD, Fauna Europaea, ITIS, Systema Dipterorum and others). If a name is not in our Target List, there are two primary reasons:
- Our source databases do not include the name.
- The name is a synonym of another valid name (synonyms aren’t shown).