Range territories have been calculated by intersecting GIS distribution maps with administrative borders given by ESRI GIS file (admin02.shp, as by 2002). Therefore, lists of administrative units are only available for species with GIS maps.

In addition, the GROMS information system allows to administer Range State lists from different sources. Additional country information has been added from the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (source: Hilton-Taylor 2000), and for fishes from FishBase 2000 (Froese & Pauly 2000). All other sources refer to the respective map source. Possible reasons for contradictions between different sources are discussed in Riede 2004 (p. 63ff).

Note: Boundaries and names of states and provinces are based on the ESRI data set (country.shp and admin98.shp, within Arcview3.2 by ESRI). The designations concerning the legal status of any state or territory, their sovereign or the delimitation of their frontiers are adopted directly from ESRI and do not reflect any opinion of the author.
For further details, see the ESRI homepage (www.esri.com).