The GloMyrIS project
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The GloMyrIS project
Etymology
The project name GloMyrIS derives from Global Myriapod Information System. As well it is a pun to the pill-millipede genus Glomeris, which pleases all friends of invertebrates with its nice colour patterns.
Aim of the project
With their high tendency for endemism, myriapods, especially millipedes, are one of the most important group for biogeographic and biodiversity research. But because of the few specialist which work on this group worldwide, the scientific potential of myriapods cannot be exploited as necessary. To change this, the GloMyrIS project was initiated to collect worldwide information about the four myriapod classes Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Pauropoda and Symphyla and to provide this information to the scientific community.
For whom are the results of GloMyrIS interesting?
- For all people, who want to identify a myriapod!
- For all people, who want to know the valid name, the synonyms and the taxonomic position of a myriapod.
- For taxonomic research to get all the necessary information, which subtaxa of a given taxon have been described, where they have been described (primary and secondary sources), which are the important characters and where the type material is deposited. The GloMyrIS project will facilitate identifications and specialists will be able to provide new descriptions sooner.
- For faunistic research, to get the information, if a given taxon is present in a country and which material is present in museum collections.
- For biodiversity research to get the information how many taxa of a given level occur in a given area.
Proceeding
During the first period of GBIF-Germany the task will be to collect information of all myriapod types housed in German museum. As shown below, the most important information gap concerns the Verhoeff collection at the Zoological State Collection of Bavaria at Munich. For this reason we start our work with this collection and will then go on with Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Bremen. If other German institutions have primary type material we urgently ask them to contact us.
In addition of present scientific research a worldwide, continuously updated catalogue of myriapods and a compilation of myriapod literature will be developed. Although we will perhaps not be able to complete both within the first period of GBIF, we will soon provide global species catalogues for some genera, families and orders: especially for those, of which the types are housed in German museums
This work happens in close cooperation with the Milli-Peet project of Petra Sierwald (Field Museum, Chicago). The generic catalog of Diplopoda provided by her served as a base for the taxonomic backbone of our database.
As well pictures, which were taken for identification purpose or during scientific research (compilation of descriptions), will be provided step by step.
Internet portal
To provide the information collected in this project to the scientific community, we have a partnership with the SYSTAX-project at the University of Ulm.
If you have questions to a given myriapod taxon like:
- Where can I find (taxonomic) literature?
- Can you show me figures (of important characters)?
- Can you show me a short diagnosis?
- Can you show me gene sequences?
- Where can I find material?
- Where are the types?
- Where does the taxon occur?
You might lookup the SYSTAX program and you will hopefully get the answer.
There are as well some topics, like species catalogues, important myriapod literature for beginners etc., which will at present not provided by the SYSTAX program. Such topics will be treated (or answered) on the sites of the node "Evertebrata II" of GBIF-Germany - the place where you are now.
If you have an urgent question, please don't hesitate to contact us. Perhaps we don't have the time to answer you at once, but sooner or later you will get the answer either on our webpages or in the SYSTAX program.
The GloMyrIS working group
PD Dr. Roland Melzer acts as project leader. He is responsible for all administrative work. He is interested in the morphology, phylogeny and biology of many arthropod groups.
Dr. Jörg Spelda acts as postdoctoral research scientist. He is responsible for taxonomic questions and database management. He is interested in taxonomy, phylogeny, biogeography and ecology of myriapods all over the world.
Dipl-Biol. Markus Unsöld is doctoral candidate at the ZSM. He is responsible for the recording (data input) of the type material. In his thesis he is working on the centipede order Scutigeromorpha. He is especially interested in ethology, not only in centipedes but as well in birds and fish.
Dr. Hans Reip is a member of the Work group of German speaking Myriapodologists. He is responsible for the literature database of this Work group and contributed a lot of corrections and scans for the corresponding GBIF Myriapod literature database.
Dipl.-Biol. Christian Pilz is graduand at the ZSM. He is responsible for the recording (data input) of the type material. In his diploma work he was working on the centipede genus Lithobius.
Marc Ritzerfeld has been volunteer at the ZSM. He worked on digitizing micropreparations and data input for GBIF EvertebrataII.
Jasmin Herden has been during her ecological voluntary year at the ZSM. She worked on digitizing micropreparations and papers for GBIF EvertebrataII.
Prof. Dr. Sergei Golovatch is one of the top specialists in milliped taxonomy. He acts a counsellor for this project. He has done much basic work, which will be incorporated in this project.
last changes: Jörg Spelda 30.12.2005
