Neogene Marine Biota of Tropical America (NMITA): A World-Wide Web Taxonomy Database

在这项研究中，Ann Budd和他的同事将为巴拿马古生物学项目、多米尼加共和国项目以及牙买加、库拉索岛和委内瑞拉的相关项目收集的化石建立一个热带美洲新近纪海洋生物群（NMITA）的有证分类数据库。在这些项目中，化石的采样遵循标准化的程序，旨在记录过去2000万年热带美洲海洋生物多样性的变化。NMITA将通过提供五个分类类群（苔藓虫、珊瑚、软体动物、介形虫、底栖有孔虫）的图像和概要信息，为藏品的持续鉴定奠定分类基础。这对于标准化命名和识别科学上的新分类群具有重要意义，并将为重建所选分支的系统发育提供一个起点。超过2000个分类群和7000张图像的数据将被输入到爱荷华大学的企业关系数据库管理系统中，使用的模型是按照ASC生物馆藏信息模型设计的。资料包括：(1)分类作者、近义词、模式标本和诊断形态特征；（二）代表性标本图片及相关博物馆目录、测量数据；(3)分布信息。珊瑚和软体动物的形态术语、特征矩阵和计算机识别工具的图解词汇表正在开发中。分布图和地层图将使用地理信息系统软件和其他工具制作。将制定协议，以便与PaleoBank和巴拿马古生物学项目的地点和地层学数据库交换信息。

9705199 Budd In this research, Ann Budd and colleagues will develop a vouchered taxonomic database of the Neogene Marine Biota of Tropical America (NMITA) for fossil collections made by the Panama Paleontology Project, the Dominican Republic project, and associated projects in Jamaica, Curacao, and Venezuela. In these projects, fossils are sampled following standardized procedures designed to document changes in marine biodiversity in tropical America over the past 20 million years. NMITA will establish the taxonomic foundation for ongoing identification of the collections by providing images and synoptic information on five taxonomic groups (bryozoans, corals, molluscs, ostracodes, benthic foraminifera). It will be important for standardizing nomenclature and recognizing taxa that are new to science, and it will provide a starting point for reconstructing the phylogenies of selected clades. Data for more than 2000 taxa and 7000 images will be entered in an enterprise relational database management system at the University of Iowa using a model patterned after the ASC Information Model for Biological Collections. The data include: (1) taxonomic authorship, synonyms, type specimens, and diagnostic morphologic characters; (2) images of representative specimens and associated museum catalog and measurement data; (3) distributional information. Illustrated glossaries of morphologic terms, character matrices, and computerized identification tools are being developed for corals and molluscs. Distribution maps and stratigraphic range charts will be produced using GIS software and other tools. Protocols will be developed for exchange of information with PaleoBank and the locality and stratigraphy database of the Panama Paleontology Project.