The South African National Species Checklist (Catalogue of Life in South Africa, COLSA) is the authoritative checklist of South Africa’s species and biodiversity. In the current version, 99254 accepted names with 37144 synonyms, and South African vernaculars are included in the data package. The current 2025 version is composed of three key datasets, including the South African National Plant Checklist, the South African National Animal Checklist, and the List of Alien Species in South Africa (2025). This consolidated and authoritative list of species is presented in a manner that is tidy and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) and will be maintained and expanded as additional species lists become available. Nationally, many institutions throughout South Africa have contributed species lists through SANBI’s managed network of Partners. Here, programmes like the Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme and the SANBI-GBIF Node, has supported the generation and mobilisation of biodiversity data, for its use in scientific research, policy and decision-making. Some museums and research institutions including through Natural Science Collections Facility have also contributed data. The species list of alien taxa in South Africa was developed as part of triennial national status reports on biological invasions and has been coordinated by the Invasives Species Programme at SANBI. This checklist was compiled as an outcome of the Research and Innovation Working Group of the G20, under the South African presidency. This checklist formed part of the deliverables under Priority 2 "Biodiversity Information for Sustainable Development" for GBIF to build a Catalogue of Life (a list of all the world’s species) within the G20 framework.
Parker-Allie F, Snyman H, Plata C, Klopper R R, Khoza T, Zengeya T (2025). South African National Species Checklist (Catalogue of Life in South Africa, COLSA). Version 1.2. South African National Biodiversity Institute. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/sdptrh accessed via GBIF.org on 2026-06-14.
