New catalogue of Wolf-Rayet galaxies and high-excitation extra-galactic HII regions

We present a new compilation of Wolf-Rayet (WR) galaxies and extra-galactic HII regions showing broad HeII lambda 4686 emission drawn from the literat ure. Relevant information on the presence of other broad emission lines (N III lambda 4640, C IV lambda 5808 and others) fi om WR stars of WN and WC s ubtypes, and other existing broad nebular lines is provided. In total we include 139 known WR galaxies. Among these, 57 objects show bot h broad Hell lambda 4686 and C IV lambda 5808 features. In addition to the broad (stellar) He II lambda 4686 emission, a nebular HeII component is wel l established (suspected) in 44 (54) objects. We find 19 extra-galatic HII regions without WR detections showing nebular Hell lambda 4686 emission. The present sample can be used for a variety of studies on massive stars, i nteractions of massive stars with the ISM, stellar populations, starburst g alaxies etc. The data is accessible electronically and will be updated peri odically.