One of the largest global threats to our environment is the accelerating loss of biological diversity. Research, documentation and dissemination of biological diversity is dependent on the classification and naming of existing organisms in nature. Taxonomy is the theory and practice of grouping individuals of life on earth into species, arranging species into larger groups and giving those groups names, thus providing a classification. Modern taxonomy and systematics have a solid theoretical foundation and a wide selection of tools to test hypotheses. Molecular methods, including DNA sequence data, are increasingly used to define taxonomic units, analyse their relationships and map their evolutionary history in time and space.