the names of organisms are the key to biodiversity communications and as such, provide access to the accumulated knowledge of all life on Earth. However, despite the obvious value of a catalogue, no comprehensive indexing system yet exists for the 1.75 million animals, plants, fungi and micro-organisms named by science. This lack of a widely accessible index, with inbuilt mechanisms for maintenance and updating, is a significant constraint on all nations wishing to fulfill their obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity.