Our catalog: Species distributions maps

The dots that the system plots are coded in four colors: yellow: representing the type locality; green: representing locations of the natural distribution of the species; red: representing locations where the species is exotic; black: representing locations where the species was present, but no longer is.

As an example, this is the main distribution map for Herichthys cyanoguttatus:

The distribution map for each species (when available) can be opened in two ways: a) by clicking on the distribution map thumbnail present in each species profile, and b) by clicking on the “map” tab (green menu) present in each species profile.

When locations are found in more than one of our maps, the other maps are given as alternatives at the bottom of the main map, clicking on any alternative map will turn it into the main map.

Each locality has a source from which it was taken since we have four different sources for our localities:

1. References: the locality has been taken from a given reference, mostly a scientific paper or a book, but also from trustable articles related to exploration.
2. In situ pictures: pictures taken in natural habitat with a registered locality.
3. Museum collections: records from museum collections or their publication as part of the gbif.com project. We recognize that many museums may have records with outdated identifications, which may happen when taxonomic changes are published. For this reason, so we just select those records that agree with the currently recognized distribution of the species.
4. iNaturalist: We select research grade records from iNaturalist network, when the coordinates given are within an error of 100 m at most.

When hovering with the computer mouse pointer over each plotted dot, an indication of its source is shown, clicking on it will open the page where the specific information is given. The list of localities with their sources is also offered at the bottom of the map page.

Up to today, we have over 24,700 locality records plotted in our distribution maps, and we continue to add localities all of the time.