1. The Current and Future
Prospects for Taxonomic
Catalogs
presented by
Randall T. Schuh
Curator and Chair
Division of Invertebrate Zoology
American Museum of Natural History, New York
7. On-line Systematic Catalog of Plant Bugs
http://research.amnh.org/pbi/catalog
Features
• Nomenclature and classification
• Bibliography
• Annotated references
• Host information
• Geographic information
• Portal to other databases/features, such as:
– Specimen Database (also via www.discoverlife.org )
– Species mapping (also via www.discoverlife.org )
– Host data from specimens (also via www.discoverlife.org )
– Digital Library
– Species pages (via http:// www.discoverlife.org,
http://research.amnh.org/pbi/heteropteraspeciespages )
– Web-based identification (via www.discoverlife.org )
18. Hurdles of Relational Database Catalogs
•Development and maintenance of the database
•Management of synonymy
•Recognition and management of homonyms
•Creation of master bibliography, or not
19. Desirable Features
• Engage community of experts from around the
world in catalog development and maintenance
• Continuous updating of catalog will allow for up-
to-date contents
• Work flow follows organization of revisionary and
other taxonomic literature
Moving to Web-based Catalog Data Entry
32. • Web-based catalogs are the way of the future
• Ongoing need for the recruitment of specialists
• Challenges exist for software acceptance and
maintenance
• Benefits to be gained from working on limited
number of compatible approaches
Long Term Prospects for Catalogs
33. Acknowledgments
Programming and Design
• Mark Breedlove
• Simon Chang
• Robert Raven
• Gary Shapiro
Development Assistance
• Christiane Weirauch (data-entry application)
Financial Support
•National Science Foundation
• American Museum of Natural History
•Global Biodiversity Information Facility
http://research.amnh.org/pbi/catalog