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Databasing At the first annual meeting of the project participants in March 2005, the PIs and collaborators studied several commercial programs for databasing biological specimens, including BIOTA and BioLink, none of which were deemed efficient for batch processing large quantities of specimens. Instead, a customized MYSQL database, developed at the AMNH for an NSF-funded Planetary Biodiversity Inventory of Miridae, and maintained on the AMNH server, with a fast, convenient web-browser interface, has been adapted for use in the REVSYS Vaejovidae project. This database is ideal for archiving data in museums or in the field, because project participants can enter data and upload digital images into the system from anywhere, and these data and images are instantly transferable via the internet. The scalability of the database enables it to be expanded to incorporate other scorpion families, besides Vaejovidae, in future. The simple interface allows users to search for all records of a particular taxon, with or without combinatorial requirements for particular regions or taxonomic authorities; all taxa from a specific region; all geographical coordinates for mapping distributions of particular taxa; and all types described by an authority or housed in an institution, etc. Subsets of the data (e.g. georeferenced records for mapping and spatial analysis) can be exported and reports (e.g. lists of material examined) generated automatically. Digital images and taxonomic, geographical, phylogenetic and literature data concerning vaejovids are, or will be, available as well. Each specimen or specimen-lot (conspecific individuals collected at the same locality on the same date) has a unique identifier in the database, cross-referenced with an accession or catalog number at an official repository. Each digital image is, or will be, correlated with the identifier, and multiple images are sub-coded to allow easy movement between images, data, and publications citing the specimen. Through a link to the Discover Life website, the database will enable simple, interactive online mapping of distributions. For access to, and more information about, the Vaejovid Database, please utilize the following link:
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