National Museum of Namibia Scorpiones Collection Data 2022
Citation
Prendini L, Bird T, Irish J, Becker F, Karuaera N (2023). National Museum of Namibia Scorpiones Collection Data 2022. Version 1.9. National Museum of Namibia. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/gmn5t4 accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-08-14.Description
This dataset is a portion of the Scorpiones preserved specimens collection, part of the Arachnida collection of the National Museum of Namibia, Windhoek. The dataset contains 74 species, ten genera and four families, including 17 Namibian country records (for a species) published for the first time on GBIF. The specimens were collected mostly from Namibia, but also from Botswana, Angola, and South Africa, from 1957 to recent times, but excludes specimens collected in the last ten years. Important collectors include include EduVentures, T.L. Bird, E. & M. Griffin, J. Irish, E. Marais, M.-L. Penrith, and L. Prendini. Georeferenced coordinate precision was reduced for all species and most for sensitive species, but can be requested from the NMNW. Most of the records were manually checked within the collection at some point during the data-gathering processes.Sampling Description
Study Extent
Sample collecting during various field trips throughout Namibia and some surrounding southern African countries.Sampling
Data was digitized from specimen labels and field notes, into various fields relevant for the Museum and associated researchers. Species identifications were confirmed or assigned for the first time by various specialists, for a large portion of the specimens. Lorenzo Prendini compiled the first dataset and confirmed or added identifications to most of the records. John Irish georeferenced most records and re-checked data. The data was then migrated into a Specify Database. The dataset was then exported, and Francois Becker formatted the data for DarwinCore, cleaned and standardized all data fields. Locality data was either entered from quarter degree grid references from the labels, and/or georeferenced from a database of locality names for Namibia; some were interpreted based on locality descriptions from labels; some were confirmed from querying the original collectors. Selected fields were then mapped to DarwinCore standard terms - in some cases one field was split into multiple fields. Each field was cleaned, reformatted and standardized in Excel using various filtering functions and pivot tables. Taxonomic names were checked on a case-by-case basis using various online sources and expert input. A sensitive species list was compiled with expert consultation, and the necessary adjustments were made to the precision of coordinate data reported.Quality Control
Standardization, consistency, and formatting was based on recommended DarwinCore standards, and was carried out in Excel. Taxonomy and nomenclature were manually confirmed.Method steps
- 1. Collation of specimens from various sub-collections into single collection, and assignment of one standardized set of catalogue numbers 2. Data-entry from labels, confirmation or assignment of identifications per specimen 3. Geo-referencing, first round of data standardization/confirmation by checking problem records, confirming data from labels etc. 4. Formatting and cleaning of entered data for first museum Specify database 5. Data export from Specify and integration with original data import spreadsheet; data mapping to DarwinCore fields, standardization of terms, and second round of cleaning and error-checking.
Taxonomic Coverages
Scorpions from four families (Bothriuridae; Buthidae; Hormuridae; Scorpionidae)
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Scorpionidaecommon name: Scorpions rank: order
Geographic Coverages
Namibia, Botswana, Angola, South Africa
Bibliographic Citations
Contacts
Lorenzo Prendinioriginator
position: Curator
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York
NY 10024-5192
US
email: lorenzo@amnh.org
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8727-7106
Tharina Bird
originator
position: Curator
DITSONG National Museum of Natural History
Paul Kruger Street
Pretoria
0001
ZA
email: tharina@ditsong.org.za
John Irish
originator
position: Owner
Namibia Biodiversity Database
Windhoek
Khomas
NA
email: jirish@biodiversity.org.na
Francois Becker
originator
position: Chief Curator
National Museum of Namibia
Windhoek
NA
Khomas
NA
email: phrogbecker@gmail.com
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3874-9183
Nanguei Karuaera
originator
position: Senior Curator
National Museum of Namibia
Windhoek
Khomas
NA
email: nkaruaera@hotmail.com
Francois Becker
metadata author
position: Chief Curator
National Museum of Namibia
NA
email: phrogbecker@gmail.com
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3874-9183
Francois Becker
processor
position: Chief Curator
National Museum of Namibia
Windhoek
NA
email: phrogbecker@gmail.com
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3874-9183
John Irish
content provider
Namibian Biodiversity Database
Windhoek
Khomas
NA
email: jirish@biodiversity.org.na
Nanguei Karuaera
custodian steward
position: Senior Curator
National Museum of Namibia
Windhoek
Khomas
NA
email: nkaruaera@hotmail.com
Lorenzo Prendini
content provider
American Museum of Natural History
US
Tharina Bird
content provider
DITSONG National Museum of Natural History
432 Paul Kruger Street
Pretoria
002
ZA
Benson Muramba
curator
position: Technical Assistant
National Museum of Namibia
Windhoek
Khomas
NA
Francois Becker
administrative point of contact
position: Chief Curator
National Museum of Namibia
NA
email: phrogbecker@gmail.com
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3874-9183
Nanguei Karuaera
administrative point of contact
position: Senior Curator
National Museum of Namibia
Windhoek
Khomas
NA
Telephone: +26461276829
email: nkaruaera@hotmail.com