The fallen half of the ledger: every species-rank name the GBIF Backbone has reduced to a synonym, together with the accepted name that absorbed it.
1,952,206 names have fallen (exact count of synonym species-rank names).
17,171 of them are published here in full.
17,171 resolve to a named absorber (100.0%).
Sister project: Nomenclator — the names that stand.
The slice column is an exact count of every synonym species-rank name under that kingdom; the sample column is what this repository stores in full.
| Kingdom | Fallen names (exact) | In sample | Sampled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animalia | 1,045,923 | 3,000 | 0.3% |
| Plantae | 730,946 | 3,000 | 0.4% |
| Fungi | 136,437 | 3,000 | 2.2% |
| Chromista | 33,358 | 3,000 | 9.0% |
| Bacteria | 3,371 | 3,000 | 89.0% |
| Protozoa | 2,151 | 2,151 | 100.0% |
| Viruses | 20 | 20 | 100.0% |
Accepted names that absorbed the most fallen names, counted within the sample.
| Absorbing name | Names absorbed |
|---|---|
| Phellinus gilvus (Schwein.) Pat. | 36 |
| Fuligo septica (L.) F.H.Wigg., 1780 | 35 |
| Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa (O.F.Müll.) T.Macbr., 1899 | 31 |
| Peronospora farinosa (Fr.) Fr. | 29 |
| Puccinia recondita Roberge ex Desm. | 27 |
| Tubifera ferruginosa (Batsch) J.F.Gmel., 1792 | 27 |
| Dictydiaethalium plumbeum (Schumach.) Rostaf., 1894 | 25 |
| Physarum album (Bull.) Chevall., 1826 | 25 |
| Lithophyllum pustulatum (J.V.Lamour.) Foslie | 24 |
| Arcyria ferruginea Saut., 1841 | 23 |
| Puccinia cnici-oleracei Pers. | 21 |
| Phellinus rimosus (Berk.) Pilát | 21 |
| Chaetomorpha ligustica (Kütz.) Kütz. | 20 |
| Fuscoporia senex (Nees & Mont.) Ghob.-Nejh. | 20 |
| Batrachospermum gelatinosum (L.) DC. | 19 |
| Leocarpus fragilis (Dicks.) Rostaf., 1874 | 19 |
| Uromyces pisi-sativi (Pers.) Liro | 18 |
| Phylloporia ribis (Schumach.) Ryvarden | 18 |
| Hormophysa cuneiformis (J.F.Gmelin) P.C.Silva, 1987 | 18 |
| Diderma radiatum (L.) Morgan, 1894 | 18 |
| Craterium leucocephalum (Pers. ex J.F.Gmel.) Ditmar, 1813 | 18 |
| Arcyria denudata (L.) Wettst., 1886 | 18 |
| Perichaena corticalis (Batsch) Rostaf., 1875 | 18 |
| Sargassum siliquastrum (Mertens ex Turner) C.Agardh, 1820 | 17 |
| Litosiphon laminariae (Lyngb.) Harv. | 17 |
| Class | Names in sample |
|---|---|
| Diplopoda | 2,035 |
| Pucciniomycetes | 1,542 |
| Myxomycetes | 1,397 |
| Florideophyceae | 1,351 |
| Agaricomycetes | 1,120 |
| Phaeophyceae | 1,015 |
| Bacillariophyceae | 798 |
| Cyanobacteriia | 774 |
| Actinomycetia | 600 |
| Gammaproteobacteria | 585 |
| Gymnolaemata | 522 |
| Ulvophyceae | 517 |
| Peronosporea | 479 |
| Polypodiopsida | 356 |
| Microsporea | 356 |
Read off the authorship year of the fallen name. About 57% of records carry a parseable year; this table counts those.
| Century | Names in sample |
|---|---|
| 1700s | 264 |
| 1800s | 3,324 |
| 1900s | 5,585 |
| 2000s | 683 |
Source: GBIF Backbone Taxonomy — dataset key
d7dddbf4-2cf0-4f39-9b2a-bb099caae36c, licence
CC BY 4.0.
Citation: GBIF Secretariat (2026). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset. https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org
Computed by src/fallen.py and src/site.py in this repository.
Generated 2026-10-03 11:16 UTC.
A synonym is one checklist's assertion, not a fact about the world. This ledger reports what the GBIF Backbone asserts.
Code MIT. Data as licensed by its source. See ATTRIBUTION.md.