A list of the terrestrial and marine biota from the Azores

Study Extent

The distribution of all species and subspecies is given, whenever possible, for each of following Azorean island: Corvo, Flores, Faial, Pico, Graciosa, São Jorge, Terceira, São Miguel, Santa Maria. When no information concerning island occurrence was available, only the archipelago occurrence is given, as Azores. For the marine organisms, we decided not to include species distribution at island level (although this information is already available for the marine invertebrates in the Atlantis database and Azorean Biodiversity Portal) due to the small territorial coverage of published records, but also because we believe that, according to present available information, the barriers between the islands are not very effective in what concerns marine organisms dispersal.

Sampling

In this checklist, infra-specific categories, apart from subspecies, are not considered (i.e. varieties, forms, etc.). The current lists of the Azorean biota are based on all known published literature, as well as on some unpublished data. However, the depth of the bibliographic coverage varies from group to group, and we are aware that it is incomplete for some groups (e.g., marine invertebrates). For all terrestrial groups, species endemic to Azores or to the Macaronesia are signaled. Concerning unpublished data, several sources were checked, namely the recent work performed under Project BALA “Biodiversity of the Arthropods from the Laurissilva of the Azores” (arthropods) and individual unpublished data from contributors to this checklist. The list includes many new records for individual islands of the Azores or for the whole archipelago, but no reference is provided concerning these new findings. All information concerning taxonomic notes, new records and references to localities will be published online in the Azorean Biodiversity Portal (http://www.azoresbioportal.angra.uac.pt/) and elsewhere. All species of doubtful identification were removed from the main list.

Method steps

1. The dataset was prepared from the original excel files used to compile the book “A list of the terrestrial and marine biota from the Azores”, by Borges et al, 2010 (see Citation). For a comprehensive description of the methodology, check the original publication using the external link provided.

The most important terrestrial taxonomic groups were studied: Fungi, Lichens, Bacillariophyta (freshwater diatoms), Bryophyta sensu lato (mosses, liverworts and hornworts), vascular plants – Tracheobionta, including Lycopodiophyta (quillworts), Pteridophyta (ferns), Pinophyta (gymnosperms) and Magnoliophyta (angiosperms), Platyhelminthes (flatworms), Nematoda (roundworms), Annelida (earthworms), Terrestrial Mollusca (slugs and snails), Arthropoda (millipedes, centipedes, mites, spiders, insects, etc.) and Vertebrata (freshwater fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals). In addition, we expand this list to the marine realm, including Algae (macroalgae), coastal invertebrates (most Phyla) and marine vertebrates (fishes, reptiles and mammals).

1. Fungi
   rank: kingdom
2. Animalia
   rank: kingdom
3. Plantae
   rank: kingdom
4. Chromista
   rank: kingdom
5. Protozoa
   rank: kingdom
6. Oomycota
   rank: phylum
7. Zygomycota
   rank: phylum
8. Ascomycota
   rank: phylum
9. Basidiomycota
   rank: phylum
10. Amoebozoa
    rank: phylum
11. Fungi Imperfecti
    rank: phylum
12. Bacillariophyta
    rank: phylum
13. Anthocerotophyta
    rank: phylum
14. Marchantiophyta
    rank: phylum
15. Bryophyta
    rank: phylum
16. Lycopodiophyta
    rank: phylum
17. Pteridophyta
    rank: phylum
18. Pinophyta
    rank: phylum
19. Magnoliophyta
    rank: phylum
20. Platyhelminthes
    rank: phylum
21. Annelida
    rank: phylum
22. Nematoda
    rank: phylum
23. Mollusca
    rank: phylum
24. Arthropoda
    rank: phylum
25. Chordata
    rank: phylum
26. Rhodophyta
    rank: phylum
27. Chlorophyta
    rank: phylum
28. Heterokontophyta
    rank: phylum
29. Porifera
    rank: phylum
30. Cnidaria
    rank: phylum
31. Sipuncula
    rank: phylum
32. Echiura
    rank: phylum
33. Bryozoa
    rank: phylum
34. Phoronida
    rank: phylum
35. Entoprocta
    rank: phylum
36. Echinodermata
    rank: phylum

Azores archipelago, with distribution data at the island level for terrestrial organisms.