Digitization PEN: Incorporation of a Massive New World Invertebrate Collection at the University of Texas at El Paso

德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校生物多样性收藏馆（UTEP-BC）目前拥有数万份用于DNA研究的珍贵自然历史标本和相关组织，其中包括来自美国各州和西半球大陆几乎每个国家的355，000份无脊椎动物标本。 虽然这些收藏品具有全球范围，但它们主要集中在美国西南部和墨西哥北方的奇瓦瓦沙漠生态区，这是SCAN（节肢动物共生群收集网络）专题收藏网络（TCN）的主要重点。 该项目将为20多名本科生和一名研究生提供培训。 这些学生将参加一项研究体验活动，参观UTEP印第奥山脉研究站，通过观察蚂蚁和其他地面节肢动物，将照片上传到iNaturalist（具有研究级标识），并通过收集标本和相关数据，跟踪和了解从现场采集到收集到公众访问的收集数据捕获过程。 这些学生和UTEP艺术学生的另一个干部也将在一个关于新世界的蚂蚁公共博物馆展览合作。 大多数展品将展出高度精确的3D打印机模型（约30厘米长），这些模型是来自收藏品的实际蚂蚁标本。 在这个项目中，UTEP-BC的目标是通过北方亚利桑那大学加入SCAN项目。 SCAN的主要目标是在美国西南部形成一个数字和虚拟的不同集合网络，这些集合可以被iDigBio基础设施捕获，用于大规模的生物多样性科学分析。SCAN网络优先考虑了五个节肢动物群体：蚂蚁（蚁科）、地面甲虫（步甲科）、蚱蜢（蝗科）、拟步甲（拟步甲科）和蜘蛛（蜘蛛目）。 UTEP-BC拥有大量这些节肢动物，随着这些标本的数字化记录迁移到Arctos（UTEP使用的在线数据库），这些数据可以很容易地被SCAN网络捕获并与iDigBio（www.iDigBio.org）共享。 该项目的主要目标是提供地理参考坐标数据（通过GEOLocate和其他资源）和其他质量控制校正25，725个收集事件（代表ca. 232，000个标本），早于现代GPS技术（2000年之前），用于UTEP-BC收藏中的五个焦点节肢动物群。总体而言，这将使最近通过扫描编目的标本总数从253，717增加到485，717，增加了90%。 该项目包括对学生进行广泛的培训，一个将利用UTEP-BC蚂蚁标本的种群遗传学项目，以及一个关于新世界蚂蚁的大型公共博物馆展览。

The University of Texas at El Paso Biodiversity Collections (UTEP-BC) currently contains tens of thousands of invaluable natural history specimens and associated tissues for DNA studies, including 355,000 invertebrate specimens from every state in the US and nearly every country in the continental western hemisphere. Although these collections have a global purview, they are mainly focused on the Chihuahuan Desert Ecoregion of the southwestern US and northern Mexico, which is the primary focus of the SCAN (Symbiota Collections of Arthropods Network) Thematic Collections Network (TCN). This project will provide training for over 20 undergraduate students, and one graduate student. These students will participate in a research experience activity to visit the UTEP Indio Mountains Research Station to follow and understand the process of collection data capture from field to collection to public accessibility through SCAN, by observing ants and other ground-dwelling arthropods in the field, uploading photos to iNaturalist (with research-grade identifications), and by collecting specimens and associated data. These students and another cadre of UTEP art students will also collaborate on a public museum exhibit about Ants of the New World. The majority of the exhibits will feature highly accurate 3D printer models (about 30 cm long) of actual ant specimens from the collections. In this project, the UTEP-BC aims to join the SCAN project via Northern Arizona University. The primary goal of SCAN is to form a digital and virtual network of disparate collections in the southwestern US, which can be captured by the iDigBio infrastructure for large-scale biodiversity science analyses. The SCAN network has prioritized five arthropod groups: ants (Formicidae), ground beetles (Carabidae), grasshoppers (Acrididae), darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae), and spiders (Araneae). The UTEP-BC has substantial holdings of these arthropods, and as digitized records for these specimens are migrated to Arctos (the online database in use at UTEP), these data can be easily captured by into the SCAN network and shared with iDigBio (www.iDigBio.org). A primary goal of this project is to provide georeferenced coordinate data (via GEOLocate and other resources) and other quality-control corrections for 25,725 collection events (representing ca. 232,000 specimens) that predate modern GPS technology (before 2000) for the five focal arthropod groups in the UTEP-BC collections. Overall, this will increase the total number of recently catalogued specimens by SCAN from 253,717 to 485,717, an increase of 90%. The project includes extensive training of students, a population-genetics project that will utilize ant specimens from the UTEP-BC, and a major public museum exhibit about Ants of the New World.