Improvements to the Florida Museum of Natural History Lepidoptera Collection

佛罗里达自然历史博物馆(FLMNH)和艾林昆虫学博物馆(AME)收藏的鳞翅目昆虫是北美最重要的区域、国家和国际系统研究资源之一。由许多令人印象深刻的老收藏，其他捐赠，以及由策展人员和其他调查人员完成的实地工作，包括几项生物多样性调查，AME收藏包含超过110万个标本，在全世界属的代表性方面完成了92%-95%。在西半球的机构中，AME的藏品可以与一些主要机构仅在蝴蝶方面的藏品相提并论，甚至超过它们的藏品。由于私人收藏品的捐赠和正在进行的生物调查研究，收藏品的增长在过去七年中显着增加。在此期间，将这些标本纳入主要收藏以便于科学界研究和使用的储存能力已大大减少。这些收集，加上以往和目前生物多样性研究的凭单标本，再加上积压的80000多份加工标本，进一步加剧了这种情况。由于严重缺乏适当的存储设施和非常有限的访问，一些数据和标本无法进行研究。该项目将在四个领域改进标本收集：(1)安装更多的机械储存单元，以纳入重要的收藏品、生物多样性调查产生的凭证标本和积压的加工标本；(2)增加兼职人员，协助完成这些标本和收藏的重组、移交和整合；(3)协助将标本分类，以便借出进行鉴定；以及(4)为来访的分类学专家提供支持，以协助鉴定标本并将其纳入收藏。在该项目完成后，将对整个收藏进行重新组织和扩大，以容纳这些积压的标本。应完成对所有已处理、积压的标本和收到的其他实物捐赠的鉴定和整合。收集、储存和重组的增加将保存和提供这些独特的研究资源，以供进一步研究、加强管理，并有助于今后收集数据的计算机化。

The Lepidoptera collections of the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) Allyn Museum of Entomology (AME) represent one of the most significant regional, national and international systematic research resources in North America. Composed of a number of impressive older collections, other donations, and field work completed by the curatorial staff and other investigators, including several biodiversity surveys, the AME collections contain more than 1.1 million specimens and are 92-95% complete in the representation of genera worldwide. Among the institutions in the Western Hemisphere, the collections of AME rank comparable with and exceed the holdings of some major institutions in butterflies alone. Collection growth as the result of donations of private collections and biological survey studies in progress has increased markedly over the past seven years. In the interim, the storage capacity to integrate these specimens into the main collection in order to make them readily available for research and use by the scientific community has dramatically decreased. These collections along with voucher specimens derived from previous and current biodiversity studies in addition to a backlog of more than 80,000 processed specimens have further exacerbated the situation. Due to critical lack of appropriate storage facilities and very limited access, some data and specimens are not available for study. This project will improve the collection in four areas: (1) the installation of additional mechanical storage units to incorporate significant collections, voucher specimens derived from biodiversity surveys, and a backlog of processed specimens, (2) additional part-time personnel to aid in the complete reorganization, transfer and integration of these specimens and collections, (3) assistance in the sorting of specimens into groups to be forwarded on loan for identification, and (4) provide support for visiting taxonomic specialists to assist in the ident ification and integration of specimens into the collection. At the completion of the project, the entire collection will be reorganized and expanded to accommodate this backlog of specimens. The identification and integration of all processed, backlog specimens and other donations in kind received should be completed. The increase in collection storage and reorganization will conserve and make these unique research resources available for further study, enhance curation, and aid in the future computerization of collection data.