Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World

In 1995 Barry Bolton published his monumental New General Catalogue, a compendium of all taxonomic decisions for ants worldwide, including extinct as well as extant taxa. This was the first global ant catalogue published since Emery's Genera Insectorum volumes nearly 75 years earlier, and was the first catalogue to appear as a single volumne (Emery's work was published as 7 volumes between 1910 and 1925). A CD ROM database version of the Catalogue was published in 2007 covering the period 1758 to 2005.

Since its original publication Barry has continued to update the New General Catalogue and is making copies available through the Global Ant Project web site.

We are indebted to Barry for making this information available.

Colour-coded Protocol for Taxon Names
The New General Catalogue uses colour codes to indicate the rank and status of each name. Rank and status follow the The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a set of rules and guidelines for naming animal species. Please see The Code (as it is called by taxonomists) for definitions of the terms used below.

Note that names of taxa of fossil forms (any rank and status) are preceded by the symbol †.


 *  RED BOLD ROMAN  (upper case): currently valid names in the family-group.
 *  RED BOLD ITALIC  (upper case): currently valid names of genus rank.
 *  Red bold italic  (lower case): currently valid names of species rank.
 *  BLUE BOLD ITALIC  (upper case): currently valid names of subgenus rank.
 *  Blue bold italic  (lower case): currently valid names of subspecies rank.
 * BLACK ROMAN (upper case): names in the family-group that are currently junior synonyms.
 * BLACK ITALIC (upper case): names in the genus-group that are currently junior synonyms.
 * Black italic (lower case): names in the species-group that are currently junior synonyms, and names in the species-group that have been transferred out of their original combinations.
 * PURPLE ROMAN (upper case): unavailable names, nomina nuda and incorrect subsequent spellings in the family-group.
 *  PURPLE ITALIC  (upper case): unavailable names, nomina nuda and incorrect subsequent spellings in the genus-group.
 *  Purple italic  (lower case): unavailable names, nomina nuda and incorrect subsequent spellings in the species-group.
 *  GREEN BOLD ITALIC  (upper case): available names in the genus-group of unidentifiable taxa, collective group names and names excluded from Formicidae.
 *  Green bold italic  (lower case): available names in the species-group of unidentifiable taxa, members of collective groups and names excluded from Formicidae.
 *  BROWN BOLD ITALIC  (upper case): unresolved junior homonyms in the genus-group that are not currently in synonymy.
 *  Brown bold italic  (lower case): unresolved junior homonyms in the species-group that are not currently in synonymy.