Zambian Bat Collections Worldwide

Study Extent

The field of study covered bat specimens collected from Zambia.

Sampling

Specimen data on Zambian bats was collected from various museums and biodiversity institutions around the world as well as from published literature.

Quality Control

All occurrence data received was georeferenced. However, original labels and manual registers were not checked, so the georeferencing was dependent on the locality and coordinate data provided by the holding institutions or literature. Where there were clear errors in the information provided, they were corrected and notes were provided about the corrections. Taxonomic names were checked for current validity and updated where possible. However, the actual specimens were not examined, so the taxonomic identities were dependent on the information provided by the source, which may in some cases be outdated.

Method steps

1. Major literary works were studied to determine possible sources of records relating to bat specimens from Zambia.
2. A list of institutions holding Zambian bat collections was made. A check was made to see which of these had already published this data to the GBIF online database.
3. Those that had not were contacted and relevant data was requested. A number of institutions responded, sending their Zambian bat specimen data and giving permission to publish it to GBIF.
4. Some did not respond and one did not give permission to publish. For those that sent data and gave publishing permission, the data was compiled in one spreadsheet.
5. Meanwhile, other occurrence data was extracted from literature sources. All the data was put together.
6. The records were georeferenced. Taxonomy was checked for validity and updated where possible. In a few cases names were updated according to current taxonomy.
7. Relevant fields were added and all information was standardised according to the Darwin Core standard.
8. Metadata was then added before publishing.

The dataset covers most of the bat (Mammalia: Chiroptera) species occurring in the study area. Most records are identified to species level.

1. Mammalia
   common name: Mammals rank: class
2. Chiroptera
   common name: Bats rank: order

Geographically, the dataset covers the country of Zambia in central Africa