Zoological Collections: Data on 20,000 Arthropod Specimens Collected in Illinois from the Years 1903 to 2003

Abstract

Data regarding 20,000 specimens of arthropods, held, in part, in dry storage, were gathered and sorted to create this dataset. Various differentiable properties, describing the specimens, provided the basis for sorting. The arthropod specimens under analysis were classified, in part, by their: (a) catalog numbers, (b) taxonomic ranks, and (c) binomial nomenclatures. Different quantitative methods were employed to pinpoint species satisfying hereinafter-enumerated criteria. Summarily, the use of these sorting criteria yielded placement of species in two major camps. As reflected in tabulated entries, the first camp constitutes species of arthropods for which there are 100, or more, specimens stored as part of the Field Museum’s collections. The second camp consists of zoological collections arthropod species that are found at locations, across Illinois, for which there are for 40, or more, specimens held in storage at the Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois. In toto, the quantitative analysis steps, undertaken to create this dataset, revealed a motley of key insights, constituting, for instance, the facts that the oldest data input, for arthropods, harkens back to the start of the twentieth century and most of the specimen data were collected only several decades ago, with some specimens having no collection date listed. These insights are important in not only revealing the limits of zoological collections data but also in accentuating areas for further research in zoological morphology and beyond.