Systematics Collections Data

Data

The following page provides a brief description of the fields used in the Search and/or record details pages.

Index

Specimen fields

Accession number

The catalogue number assigned to this specimen.

CollectionFormatDescription
Allan HerbariumCHR #Primary accession number for a specimen. These numbers are permanent and may be cited in published works.
ICMP #Primary accession number for the culture. These numbers are permanent and may be cited in published works.
PDD #Primary accession number for the specimen. These numbers are permanent and may be cited in published works.
Arthropod CollectionNZAC#Primary accession and barcode number for the specimen. These numbers are permanent and may be cited in published works.
NZACAMP#
NZACTFB#
TYPELEP#
TYPEDIP#
Temporary numbers for specimen records that were databased historically without permanent accession numbers being applied. These temporary numbers are gradually being replaced as the data are reviewed and permanent accession numbers are assigned.
Data provider

The collection in which the specimen or culture is held.

Barcode

The barcode number assigned to this specimen. This will normally be the same value as the Accession Number.

Specimen Type [Type of record]

The method used for preparing or mounting the specimen or the kind of culture. These vary between collections:

CollectionTypes of specimens or culture
CHRBag; Box; Packet; Photograph; Sheet; Slide; Vial (30); Vial (125); Vial (250); Vial (500); Vial (1000)
FLAXClone
ICMPBacterial Culture; Fungal Culture; Virus; Yeast Culture
NZACAlcohol; Pin; Slide; Unknown
PDDAlcohol; Dried; Packet
Exsiccata

When a specimen has been prepared as a duplicate in an exsiccata series this field will contain the title of the exsiccata series.

Type status

The status of this specimen as a nomenclatural type as governed by the applicable International Code of Nomenclature.

Database record added

The date the record of this specimen was added to the information system.

Database record updated

The date the record of this specimen was last updated within the information system.

Permissions

Components

Most specimens consist of material from a single taxon or individual, but some specimens are composed of material from more than one taxon or individual. In SCD we refer to each taxon or distinct part that makes up a specimen as a 'component'. These components may be associated through a particular relationship (e.g. host–parasite), or may simply have been collected together (e.g. many bryophyte collections). When there is more than one component present, one of the components is flagged as the 'Primary component' – this is deemed to be the taxa of most interest at the time of accessioning and is the taxon under which the specimen is stored.

Identifications

The identification fields provide information about the current and historical identifications that have been applied to the specimen. Within SCD, identifications are recorded for each component allowing for full identification histories to be recorded regardless of how many components are present. For each component the identifications are separated into the Active identification and Other identifications.

Determined name

The verbatim taxonomic name provided by the determiner.

Determiner

The name of the person(s), if known, who provided this identification.

Determination date

The date on which the determiner identified the specimen.

Preferred name

The preferred taxonomic name. This is based on identification provided by the determiner, but uses taxonomic information from other sources to provide the preferred name for this taxon (see Currency of Data for more information).

Class

The taxonomic class under which the specimen is classified.

Order

The taxonomic order under which the specimen is classified.

Family

The taxonomic family under which the specimen is classified.

Phylum or Division

The taxonomic division or phylum under which the specimen is classified.

Vernacular name

If provided, the vernacular name given by the determiner.

Identification type

For each identification, the type of identification that was applied by the determiner. The type of identification varies between each collection.

Type of identificationDefinitionUsed by
ConfirmationA critical examination of the specimen that confirms a previous identification.CHR; ICMP
DeterminationA critical examination of the specimen that changes a previous identification.CHR; FLAX; ICMP; NZAC; PDD
Implicit...PDD
Nomenclatural curationAn technical change that has been applied to the specimen to update the scientific name of the specimen. These identifications do not critically examine the matter, rather they are based on an early determination that has been applied to the specimen and are usually made following a recent revision or monograph of a taxonomic group.CHR; PDD
Received asThe identification applied to the culture when it was received by ICMP.ICMP
Taxonomic curationA change that has been applied to the specimen to update the scientific name of the specimen following a recent revision or monograph that has resulted in a different taxonomic treatment for the taxon to which the specimen is identified. These 'identifications' do not critically examine the matter, rather they are based on an early determination that has been applied to the specimen and are always made following a recent revision or monograph of a taxonomic group.CHR; PDD
[Identification] Note

A note relating to the identification, if any, made by the determiner.

References

The references, if any, associated with this identification by the determiner.

Associations

The category of association (e.g., host) and taxonomic name of the association organism.

Substrate

Description of the substrate from which the specimen or culture was collected.

Collection event

Most specimens are derived from a single collecting event. However, some specimens are derived from a series of 'collecting events', for example specimens of plants grown in cultivation or reared insects. For these specimens the SCD system records all of these collecting events to provide the full provenance of the specimen. One of these collecting events, usually the most recent or the collecting event when the material was originally gathered in the field, is designated the 'primary collection event'.

Collection event type

Indicates whether this collecting event was known to have occurred in the field, or under artificial growing conditions (culture, cultivation, reared) or this information is unknown.

Gazetteer/Standard locality

The collecting location following a standardised gazetteer of locations for each collection. These locations are provided to assist with the interpretation of the verbatim locality.

Verbatim locality

The collecting location as provided by the collector.

Collector

The name of the person who made the gathering. In some cases this may be more than one person.

Collector's reference number

The collector's personal reference number for this collecting event.

Date

The verbatim date, or date range, for the collecting event, as recorded by the collector.

Start date

The starting date of the collecting event, in standard format.

End date

The date the collecting event ended, in standard format. Usually this is only populated with data if the collection date was provided as a date range.

Geographic regions

The geographic region(s) within which the collection event occurred. A collection event may have geographic regions indicated for one or more of the following schemas:

These territories are applied automatically for specimen records that have valid georeference coordinates.
SchemaDescription
CountryThe name at the time of collection for the country from which this specimen or culture was collected.
Ecological Region and Ecological District The name of the Ecological Region or District (following McEwen 1987) from which this specimen or culture was collected.
Land DistrictThe name of the Land District from which this specimen or culture was collected. Land Districts were established under the Land Act 1948 (and earlier Acts). Boundaries are displayed on NZMS 311A or see Marshall & Kelly (1986) Atlas of New Zealand Boundaries. Department of Geography, University of Auckland Occasional Publication No. 20.
Native LandsThe name of the territory, or territories, from which this specimen or culture was collected. The territory boundaries are defined by Native Land Digital.
New Zealand Area CodeThe name of the New Zealand Area from which this specimen or culture was collected. See Crosby et al. (1998) Area codes for recording specimen localities in the New Zealand subregion. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 25(2): 175–183.
World Geographic Scheme for Recording Plant Distribution The name from the World Geographic Scheme from which this specimen or culture was collected. See https://www.tdwg.org/standards/wgsrpd/ for details on the Scheme.
Georeferences

The georeferences recorded by the collector or a later worker.

Altitudes

The elevation at which the collecting event occurred.

Local heights

A height or depth offset from the elevation for the collecting event. This may, for example, indicate the depth below a water surface or the height up a tree.

Habitat

A description of the habitat provided by the collector.

Microhabitat

A description of the microhabitat provided by the collector.

[Collection event] Notes

Any additional notes provided by the collector.

Observed species

A list of species observed at the collecting site by the collector, unless indicated by the word 'derived'. If the species are indicated as 'derived' they have been added using supplementary information by the collector or a later work.

Specimen flags

Specimen flags are tags that are used to indicate a property or feature of a specimen. They usually provide biological information (e.g., gender) or collection management information (e.g., ICMP's Re-storage). The flags used vary between each collection, and some flags that reflect collection management activities are restricted to registered users.

Collection Flag Description Access level
CHRSubsetA set of collection management flags used to indicate properties such as the levels of data verification, or the voucher status of the specimenRegistered Users 1
ICMPBACCMPI Border Access and clearance certificate numberRegistered Users 1
EPA PermitEPA Permit numberRegistered Users 1
Grade Indicates the level of authenticity of the strain for the culture
  • a: there is published information indicating the authenticity
  • b: the strain has been examined at ICMP and considered to be authentic
  • ?: considered to be atypical or improperly classified
Public
Import permitMPI Import Permit numberRegistered Users 1
MPIMPI status flagsPublic
Price categoryIndicator of price category for purchase of culture.Public
Re-storageManagement flag to indicate whether re-culturing and storage is requiredCollection Staff
WarningRisk groupPublic
PDDAlcohol collectionUsed to indicate the presence of an alcohol collection and, if available, record a storage numberRegistered Users 2
Anamorph stateUsed to indicate the presence of the anamorph (asexual state), teleomorph (sexual state) or holomorph (both states) in the specimenPublic
MissingSpecimen cannot be located in the collection (usually as a result of misfiling)Registered Users 1
Rust statesUsed to indicate the presence of one or more of the different states in the rust life cyclePublic
NZACAdditional materialUsed to indicate the presence of additional physical material relating to this specimenPublic
Data validationAdded when the automatic updated and added dates on the specimen do not represent the actual time of data entry or validationPublic
GenderUsed to indicate the gender of the specimenPublic
Life stageUsed to indicate the life stage of the specimen, e.g. egg, immature, larva, instarPublic
Mounting mediumUsed to record the medium in which the specimen is mountedPublic
PartFor incomplete specimen this states that part(s) remaining or missingPublic
Wing developmentUsed to record the stage of wing development for the specimen.Public

Specimen events

Specimen events are actions or processes that have happened to the specimen after it has been collected. These events may include events such as actions that occurred during specimen preparation and deposition (e.g., culture isolation in ICMP), specimen curation or the application of particular treatments (e.g., changing of preservation fluid). Each specimen event captures the following information:

Specimen event type

The type of events recorded vary between the collections. The Event Type is used as the title for the event.

Title Description Collection
Cold treatment; Fumigation; Irridation; Heat treatment; Treatment historyInformation on a temperature-based or other treatments that has been applied to the specimen.CHR, NZAC
Collection managementInformation on an event associated with management of specimen within the collection.PDD
ContributedInformation on the event when the culture was directly contributed to the collectionICMP
IsolatedInformation on the event when the culture was isolatedICMP
PreparationInformation of an event associated with the preparation of the specimenICMP, NZAC
ReceivedInformation on when the culture was received by the collectionICMP
ViaInformation about the person who sent the culture to the contributorICMP
Actioned by

The name of a person who was responsible for an event (or action) in the history of the specimen. If this person assigned a reference number for the event, this is appended after their name.

Date

The date the specimen event occurred. If available both the verbatim date and standardised date are provided.

Note

A note associated with this specimen event.

Batches

The term 'batch' is used to refer to a set of samples that were prepared at the same time and from the same material for a particular ICMP accession when the stock of that culture had become low.

Date created

The date this batch of the culture was created.

Date frozen

The date the batch was frozen after culturing.

Physical location

The physical storage location of this culture batch.

Original viability

The viability of this culture batch when it was created.

Note

Any notes regarding this culture batch.

Storage method

A list of any notes that are associated with the specimen. Each note will provide the type of note (as the title), the note text, followed by the note author and date if they are available.

Viability

The viability of this culture when it was last tested.

Duplicates

When a duplicate specimen is known to be held by another collection this provides a list of the acronym of the other collection(s) followed by their accession number (if known). For example, for CHR 486272 this field displays AK: AK 227406 because a duplicate specimen (AK 227406) is held in the herbarium at the Auckland War Memorial Museum (AK).

Assigned reference numbers

A list of other reference numbers that have been assigned to this specimen (e.g., NZRCC number for ICMP cultures; Fungal Network of NZ Fungal Foray Numbers (FUNNZ) for PDD specimens). The list provides a name or acronym of the numbering system and the value of the reference number assigned to the specimen.

A list of links to external resources that are associated with the specimens. The list provides a short title for each link and the reference text. If available, the reference text is provided as a hyperlink.