Virusmap is an interactive tool to explore the taxonomy of viruses. The concept used in Virusmap is the same than in Lifemap for exploring the entire Tree of Life: exploring is done by zooming and panning.

 The current tree contains 199 917 species and is based on the taxonomy published by the NCBI. The taxonomy is updated regularly.
Disclaimer: The NCBI taxonomy database is not an authoritative source for nomenclature or classification - please consult the relevant scientific literature for the most reliable information. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is a good place to start, as well as the recent paper by Koonin et al. (2020) accessible here.

 All the nodes in the tree can be clicked. It displays information (description and picture) concerning the taxa (retrieved from the ikipedia page, if any). If you have description or pictures you would like to see in Lifemap, simply create or update the corresponding ikipedia page.

 Itineraries between taxa can be computed by clicking on the icon on the left of the search field. When filling the two new search fields, the route is drawn between the taxa and the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) of the two groups/species is returned. The user gets also access to a list of all the nodes that are encountered in the way from one group to the other. This list is clickable.

 Virusmap, like Lifemap, was written by Damien M. de Vienne (web page), a CNRS researcher working in the Laboratory of Biometry and Evolutionary Biology (LBBE) in Lyon (France) with support from the informatics departement (especially Stephane Delmotte and Bruno Spataro).