[Nhcoll-l] Updating Invertebrate Taxonomy in Natural Science Databases

[Gary Kidder]

This question is mostly directed to folks that work with Invertebrate collections where frequent taxonomic changes are a part of life. That being said, any other thoughts are appreciated also.

I am currently in the process of preparing approximately 30,000+ malacology specimens for cataloging into our Invertebrate Zoology Department. Of those 30,000 specimens many species are only represented by 1-5 specimens. I mention this to put into context the taxonomic conundrum I'm in.  In our database each species has its own taxonomic file that includes its phylogenetic hierarchy. For our existing collection that phylogenetic hierarchy would probably be considered outdated and our main problem is two-fold. Our first problem is the constant changes that are made at the genus and species level and the time required to constantly and update our records. For example, because of the constant changes in both Conidae and Cypraeidae we only use Conus and Cypraea as accepted genus's. Our second problem is determining the reliability of new taxonomy.

My question is this, as fellow institutions with a responsibility for scientific accuracy, what do you use? What debates/pros/cons have you had by the way you keep your records? Some of our thoughts have been iDigBio, EOL, WoRMS, and GBIF. That being said, we've seen conflicting information between sites and having the time to check each source in instances like this seem almost impossible.

In this specific instance, my biggest concern here is inadvertently creating duplicate taxonomy records because the new records provided will not necessarily match our existing ones. I know the source they will be using and have purposely not said what it is so that I can get honest opinions about sources. I am also interested in knowing if other institutions  have picked a specific standard to go by. Is the source one that can be found online, do you rely on previous work done in your collection,  and/or do you rely on older books written on taxonomy?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Please feel free to contact me on or off list.

Thanks!

Gary L. Kidder
Inventory Manager - Collections
theHoustonMuseumofnaturalscience
5555 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, TX 77030-1799
gkidder at hmns.org (713) 639-4629 ext. 4673
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