[NHCOLL-L:693] 100,000 SPECIMENS DATABASE

[Emery, Rob]

Appended is a press release celebrating the databasing of our 100,000th
invertebrate reference collection specimen.  It is aimed at the general
public rather than entomologists but may be of interest to this group just
the same.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Emery
(Entomologist)

ph:     61 8 93683247
Fax:    61 8 93683223
Mob:   0419 935 991
mailto:remery at agric.wa.gov.au
http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/ento

Agriculture Western Australia
3 Baron-Hay Court,
South Perth, 6151
Western Australia

Agriculture Western Australia Insect Reference Collection Database reaches
100,000 specimen records

Rob Emery, Entomologist, Agriculture Western Australia

Deep in the bowels of the Agriculture Western Australia Entomology
Laboratories resides the Insect Reference Collection.  Over 200,000
specimens are pinned in the collection's 1,000 drawers.  Over the last four
years entomologists have been inputting the hand-written specimen label
information into an online database so that the records will be available
for researchers, students, amateur entomologists and the general public.

The collection itself is an important heritage resource for the State.  It
is a physical record of Western Australia's arthropod biodiversity built up
by Agency staff for over 100 years.   Tens of thousands of man-hours are
represented in its beautifully preserved, labelled and named specimens.
Besides pinned specimens, the collection also houses 4,000 specimens in
alcohol as well as 3,500 microscope slides and countless photographs.
 
Some specimens were taken from around the Swan River Valley at the turn of
the century and these specimens can be equated with exquisitely preserved
fossils of populations which are now extinct due to man's activities.  These
specimens give us a unique window on the original fauna of Perth and its
environs. There are also specimens collected from the Ord River Valley
during the 1940's prior to the flooding which represent an important
biological insight into the history of man's development of the Kimberley
region. 

The content of the collection reflects the needs of the Agency and it is
particularly strong in species of agricultural significance such as fruit
flies, codling moth, stored-product insects, wood-boring beetles and thrips.
These specimens are essential reference material for entomological research
programs undertaken by AGWEST.  The collection also has many magnificent
non-pest specimens used for comparison as well as thousands of exotic
insects required to help entomologists recognise pest invasions.

In 1988 Curator (retired) Kevin Richards and Entomologist Rob Emery began
cataloguing the collection in a custom built computer database so that
specimen records would be available to remote agency entomologists without
the need to send valuable, fragile specimens through the post.  Gradually
the database grew not only in number of records but to include an index of
scientific and common names, loans management and high quality digital
specimen images.

This resource was found to be so useful that it was made available over the
Internet in 1996 providing entomologists and interested people around the
world with specimen collection details, 17,000 scientific and common names,
over 1,000 specimen images, online user manual and other tools.  This
approach has paved the way for development of a National online reference
collection database.

A National reference collection database will form the basis for Australia's
quarantine decisions defining what is in the country and what is not.  This
will provide verifiable lists of pests which can be used to identify
organisms of quarantine concern thus satisfying the new guidelines of the
World Trade Organisation.

Inputting data from tiny hand written labels, sometimes in ancient fountain
pen, is an onerous task to say the least and the bulk of this task at AGWEST
has been undertaken by one person.  Natarsha Zilm has keyed in information
from almost 90,000 specimens and made the major progress toward the
100,000th specimen milestone.  She continues to digitally photograph
representatives of each group.

AGWEST Entomology  has decided to celebrate this achievement and recognise
25 years of curation and entomological expertise by recalling Kevin Richards
to enter specimen number 100,000.  The specimen chosen is a Robber Fly
Chrysopogon kastanios collected by Kevin in 1970 from Hyden.  This
particular insect is a Holotype which means it is the single specimen with
which all others are compared to ensure correct identification.

This specimen and 999,999 others can be viewed via the "Collection" link at
http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/ento