1. Canadian National Collection
Databasing
By
Dicky Sick Ki Yu
Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada

2. Canadian National Collection of
Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes
CNC
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Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada
Started in 1886
Approximately 16 million specimens
1,400 cabinets
12,219 primary types

3. 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, CANADA

4. 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, CANADA

5. Curatorial Units
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Arachnids – Dr. Fred Beaulieu
Coleoptera – Dr. Pat Bouchard
Diptera – Dr. Jeff Skevington
Hemiptera – Dr. Bob Foottit
Hymenoptera – Dr. Andy Bennett
Lepidoptera – Dr. J.F. Landry
Miscellaneous – Dr. Owen Lonsdale
Nematodes – Dr. Qing Yu

6. Arachnida
• 350,000 slides of Acari (Mites, Ticks) with
1,000 primary types
• 200,000 specimens of Aranae (Spiders) with
200 primary types

10. Coleoptera
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2,300,000 specimens
Primary types Total = 2,404
231 Adephaga (Carabidae,Dytiscidae, etc.)
931 Cucujiformia (Curculionidae, Chrysomelidae etc.)
766 Staphylinoidea (Staphylinidae, Leiodidae etc.)
278 Elateriformia (Elateridae, Cantheridae etc.)
172 Scarabaeiodea (Scarabaeidae, Geotrupidae etc.)

16. Diptera
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>2,000,000 specimens
Primary types Total nearly 4,500
28% Brachycera
41% Schizophora (excl. Tachindae)
31% Tachinidae

22. Hemiptera
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850,000 specimens
Primary types Total = 721
200 aphids
500 Hemiptera
21 Thysanoptera

28. Hymenoptera
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3,000,000 specimens
Primary types Total = 3,317
1,114 Ichneumonidae
715 Braconidae
531 Chalcidoidea
403 Proctotrupoidea
395 Bees
115 Sawflies

33. Lepidoptera
• 1,600,000 specimens
• Microlepidoptera – 417,000 specimens
(Pyraloidea, Gelechiodea, Tortricoidea)
• Macrolepidoptera – 1,141,800 specimens
(Noctuoidea, Geometroidea, Papilionoidea)
• 1,130 Primary types

40. Miscellaneous
• Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Plecoptera,
Trichoptera, Orthoptera, Collembola,
Mallophaga, Mecoptera, Neuropteroidea
• 1,397 drawers
• 85,000 vials
• 4,500 slides
• 94 Primary types

42. Amber Fossil
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1,432 specimens
498 Hemiptera
344 Diptera
272 Arachnida
155 Hymenoptera
• 24 Primary types

45. Nematodes
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88,000 specimens
29,000 slides
5,000 vials
266 primary types

50. Present Databases
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Excel files kept by Unit curators
FileMaker Pro on local area network
FoxPro on personal computers
Firebird (Borland) on personal computers
MS Access on personal computers
Associate with third party databases and
websites
• No digital database

51. Proposed Database
• Create a centralised dynamic website with
PHP scripts & MySQL database
• Specimen database with variable information
• Taxonomic database with variable information
• Users act as editors – direct interact with the
database anywhere in the world

52. Specimens with variable information
Specimen
•Specimen ID
•Date
•Collection method
•Collector
•Location
•Country/Province
•Latitude/longitude
•Elevation
•Sex
•Life stage
•Preparation
•Depository
•Storage
•Taxon
•Common name
Content
User defined field
name
User defined content
User defined
content
Notes
1.Images
2.Files-pdf, doc, rtf
3.Museum codes
4.Country/Province
5.People’s name
6.Reference
7.Taxonomic name
8.Text
9.Real number
10.Latitude/longitude
11.Web-link

53. Taxa with variable information

54. CNC-ottawa.ca – Specimen page

55. CNC-ottawa.ca – Taxon webpage

56. Taxapad – Taxon page

58. Taxapad – Taxon page

59. Taxapad – Combination history

60. Taxapad – Biology page

61. Taxapad – Morphology page

62. Taxapad – Morphological index

63. Taxapad – Taxon distribution

64. Taxapad – Graphic Distribution

65. Taxapad – Taxonomic Tree

66. Taxapad – Catalogue-style listing

67. CNC-ottawa.ca – Label Creation

68. Loan label
Location label
Dissection slide label
front
back
ID number labels
Identification label
CNC-ottawa.ca

69. CNC-ottawa.ca – Specimen page

70. CNC-ottawa.ca – Taxon page

71. CNC-ottawa.ca – Taxon webpage

72. Challenges
• The size of the collection
• Databases already in use

73. Possible Co-operations
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Taxonomic database is needed for all
collection databases
A centralized taxonomic database can be
divided among co-operating institutions who
have special expertise in their taxonomic
groups
Function taxonomic database can be
downloaded to individual institute
Link to centralized database for supporting
information

74. Thanks for your attention!