We present a consensus classification of life to embrace the more than 1.6 million species already provided by more than 3,000 taxonomists’ expert opinions in a unified and coherent, hierarchically ranked system known as the Catalogue of Life (CoL). The intent of this collaborative effort is to provide a hierarchical classification serving not only the needs of the CoL’s database providers but also the diverse public-domain user community, most of whom are familiar with the Linnaean conceptual system of ordering taxon relationships. This classification is neither phylogenetic nor evolutionary but instead represents a consensus view that accommodates taxonomic choices and practical compromises among diverse expert opinions, public usages, and conflicting evidence about the boundaries between taxa and the ranks of major taxa, including kingdoms. Certain key issues, some not fully resolved, are addressed in particular. Beyond its immediate use as a management tool for the CoL and ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System), it is immediately valuable as a reference for taxonomic and biodiversity research, as a tool for societal communication, and as a classificatory “backbone” for biodiversity databases, museum collections, libraries, and textbooks. Such a modern comprehensive hierarchy has not previously existed at this level of specificity.

The cymothoid isopods (Isopoda: Flabellifera: Cymothoidae) of the eastern Pacific an presented, with descriptions, figures, ranges and comments on their host relationships. Fourteen species are treated, two of which are described as new species of Lironcca. A d m a faevir Mim, 1877 is synonymized with A. lcrlicauda M. Milne-Edwards, 1840. Nerocila caliihica Schioedte & Meinen, 188 I and Reriropodur barlschi Boone, 1918, are synonymized with N . Mcfa Schioedte & Meinert, 1881, and two iiiorpliological forms designated. Neotypes are designated for Lironrca conuexa Richardson, 1905. Expanded generic diagnoses are provided for eastern Pacitic taxa. An introductory section presents a rcview of the world literature on the family Cymothoidae, including discussions of morphology, taxoliolily, natural history, evolution, and zoogeography. Confusion regarding the genus Ichthyoxmos is cliscurred, and several species removed to Lironeca.

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Descriptions, illustrations, synonymies and distributional data are provided for the eight species of Rocinela (Isopoda: Aegidae) now known from the tropical eastern Pacific, and for the temperate species R. angustata Richardson, 1904. A revised description of the genus is presented, as well as a key to all species known from the eastern Pacific (Alaska to Tierra del Fuego). Lectotypes are designated for three species: R . angustata, R . laticauda Hansen, 1897 and R. tuberculosa Richardson, 1898, and a neotype is designated for R. belliceps (Stimpson, 1864). One new species is described, R. wstza' rp. Richardson, 1903 is reported for the first time outside the Hawaiian Islands (from Guadalupe Island, Mexico). Our examination of material in this genus from various institutional collections indicates that specimens are often misidentified. Use of the mouth appendages or pleopods to characterize or identify species is unreliable as there is little interspecific variation in these characters. Useful characters are those of frontal margin and frontal lamina morphology, pereopodal armature (although this is somewhat polymorphic in most species), and the shape and armature of the uropods . Four species ( R . angusfata, R . laficauda, R. ausfralis Schicidte & Meinert, 1879, and R . murilloi Brusca & Iverson, 1985) are very similar and easily confused, but they can be distinguished with the key provided. The most commonly collected species in the tropical eastern Pacific are R . murilloi, R. belliceps and R. signata SchiMte & Meinert, 1879; the former is a deep-water species, the latter two are shallow-water. Rocincla australis has not been reported since its original description, more than I10 years ago. aov. Rocinela hawaiiensis