Cowpea wild species are a valuable genetic resource that play a critical role in cowpea improvement and long-term crop resilience. They harbour extensive genetic diversity that is often absent in cultivated varieties, including novel alleles for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. Wild cowpea relatives possess resistance to major pests and diseases, including aphids, bruchids, root-knot nematodes, and various foliar pathogens. They also exhibit adaptive traits that support survival in harsh environments, such as drought and heat tolerance - traits that are increasingly important under current climate change conditions. In addition to stress-related traits, cowpea wild species contribute to enhancing seed quality, biomass production, and reproductive traits that can be used in both grain and forage cowpea breeding. Their genetic diversity is essential for broadening the narrow genetic base of cultivated cowpea, supporting the development of improved varieties suited to climate change and emerging production challenges. The cowpea wild species were genotyped using the DArTseq platform alongside the large collection of cultivated cowpea accessions maintained in the ILRI forage genebank. Based on passport data, the wild set included three major groups: 16 Vigna unguiculata subsp. dekindtiana, 5 V. unguiculata subsp. pubescens, and 2 V. unguiculata var. spontanea. Additional accessions were assigned to species using hierarchical clustering with a subset of high-quality genome-wide SNP markers, resulting in the inference of 9 subsp. dekindtiana, 2 subsp. pubescens, and 6 var. spontanea. These cowpea wild species can be distributed upon request through the genebank and represent a vital reservoir of genetic diversity for breeding programs, conservation initiatives, and sustainable agricultural production.