The Current and Future Prospects for Taxonomic

Catalogs

presented by

Randall T. SchuhCurator and Chair

Division of Invertebrate ZoologyAmerican Museum of Natural History, New York

Scale Insects

Scalenet Queries

Diptera

Spiders

Spiders

On-line Systematic Catalog of Plant Bugs http://research.amnh.org/pbi/catalog

Features• Nomenclature and classification• Bibliography • Annotated references• Host information• Geographic information• Portal to other databases/features, such as:

– Specimen Database (also via www.discoverlife.org )

– Species mapping (also via www.discoverlife.org )

– Host data from specimens (also via www.discoverlife.org )

– Digital Library– Species pages (via http:// www.discoverlife.org,

http://research.amnh.org/pbi/heteropteraspeciespages )

– Web-based identification (via www.discoverlife.org )

Simplified Relational Database Schema

Search by “name” or Taxonomic Hierarchy

Names

Regions, places

Hosts

Bibliography

Introduction

Results of Search by “Europiella”

References and Hosts for “Europiella umbrina”

Names Competing in Homonymy in Psallus

Miridae Names Placed in “Lygaeus”

Results of Search for Psallus spp. in Nearctic

Results of Search by “Cactaceae”

Bibliographic Titles Containing “Halticus”

Taxa included in Henry, 1991

Hurdles of Relational Database Catalogs

•Development and maintenance of the database

•Management of synonymy

•Recognition and management of homonyms

•Creation of master bibliography, or not

Desirable Features• Engage community of experts from around the

world in catalog development and maintenance

• Continuous updating of catalog will allow for up-to-date contents

• Work flow follows organization of revisionary and other taxonomic literature

Moving to Web-based Catalog Data Entry

Log-on Page

Select/Choose Bibliographic Entries

Select Taxon by “Drilling Down”

Genus-Group Names Documentation Screen

Create New Generic Name/Type Species

Genus-group Reference Screen

Search for Species-group Names

Species-group Reference Screen: Geography

Continue with Host Data Entry or Synonymy

Add New Host Genus

Synonymy Screen

Select Name of Junior Synonym

• Web-based catalogs are the way of the future

• Ongoing need for the recruitment of specialists

• Challenges exist for software acceptance and maintenance

• Benefits to be gained from working on limited number of compatible approaches

Long Term Prospects for Catalogs

Acknowledgments

Programming and Design• Mark Breedlove • Simon Chang• Robert Raven• Gary Shapiro

Development Assistance• Christiane Weirauch (data-entry application)

Financial Support•National Science Foundation• American Museum of Natural History•Global Biodiversity Information Facility

http://research.amnh.org/pbi/catalog