About the Department  |  Collection Databases  |  Courses & Workshops  |  Entomology Resources  |  Personnel  |  General Collections

From 1991 to 1996 the Department of Entomology, with financial help from the National Science Foundation, carried out an inventory of the general pinned entomology collection. Funding was not available at the time to enter this information into an electronic format, but this is currently being done with whatever departmental resources and time are available. As of 31 October 1997, 2.52 million specimens representing about 63,000 taxa have been entered into an electronic format. As taxonomic groups are completed, the information is being transferred to this web site. It is expected that when finished, approximately 7.5 million pinned specimens and 180,000 taxa will be represented on the departmental web site. It is hoped that the specimens preserved in 75% ethyl alcohol and on microscope slides can be added at a future date. The primary types collection will also be included .

The data about any collection is only as good as the underlying identifications and support from the taxonomic community. No collection can expect to keep up with all changes occurring throughout the more than one million described species. Thus, this information must be used with caution. It is to be expected that some names will be changed, and some identifications will be erroneous. We hope that taxonomists will help us by contacting us when taxonomic names are incorrect, or CAS distribution records appear to conflict with known geographic distributions. We also hope that by placing this information in a public forum the spotlight will help us to improve the accuracy of our collection records. We are committed to getting as much information as possible into an electronic format that can be universally used, and equally committed to updating the information as frequently as we can. We are indicating along with each taxonomic group the date of last update to allow readers to see how current our information is.

Information is presented in two formats: taxonomically and geographically.

Within the taxonomic format several different annotations may appear. These signify the following:

P (in "species" field) = pupal specimen(s) [These appear as an entry separate from adult specimens of the same taxon].

L (in "species" field) = larval specimen(s) [These appear as an entry separate from adult specimens of the same taxon].

MS (in "species" field) = manuscript name; validity of this name is in question.

Within the geographical format, information will be presented either by geographical unit (country, state, county), or as a distribution map by taxonomic unit.

Taxonomic Holdings
Geographic Holdings

To Primary Types Holdings

Last Updated August 2008