Digital Imaging of the Primary Type Fish Specimens at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia

在分类学中，“类型”标本唯一地代表并将学名与其物种联系起来。准确的分类学研究和新物种的描述需要基于模式标本的先前描述物种的知识。该项目将为费城自然科学院（ANSP）研究收藏的近2800种鱼类标本制作高分辨率数字图像和x射线。在鱼类种类和分类代表性方面，ANSP在北美排名第二：来自世界各地的42目1825种名义物种。这些图像和x射线将通过ANSP收集网站免费快速地用于科学和非营利性教育用途。分类学家在直接获取模式标本方面面临着越来越多的障碍：前往博物馆的旅行成本上升，以及对借出和运输酒精保存标本的限制增加。高分辨率图像通常为研究人员提供关于诊断和其他特征的足够信息，以避免直接检查标本的需要。高质量的图像可以用作出版物中的插图。这些图像还可以作为将来标本丢失时的备份。因此，ANSP鱼类类型标本的图像将成为系统鱼类学中广泛有用、及时和永久的研究资源。

In taxonomy "type" specimens uniquely represent and link scientific names to their species. Accurate taxonomic research and descriptions of new species require knowledge of previously described species based on type specimens. This project will produce high-resolution digital images and X-Rays of nearly 2,800 type specimens of fishes in the research collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia (ANSP). ANSP ranks second in North America in the number of fish types and taxonomic representation: 1,825 nominal species in 42 orders from all over the world. The images and X-Rays will be freely and rapidly available for scientific and not-for-profit educational uses through the ANSP collections Website.Taxonomists increasingly confront impediments to direct access to type specimens: rising travel costs to museums and added restrictions on lending and shipping alcohol preserved specimens. High-resolution images often provide to researchers sufficient information about diagnostic and other characters to obviate the need for direct examination of specimens. High quality images can be used as illustrations in publications. The images will also serve as a backup in the event of future loss of specimens. Thus, images of the ANSP fish type specimens will be a broadly useful, timely and permanent research resource in systematic ichthyology.