Dear Conch-lers

I received the announcement below from Dr. David Reid, Natural History
Museum, London. If you have any comments to the Curator of Zoological
Collections, The Linnaean Society, London (and collections manager of
Higher Invertebrates, Natural History Museum), Ms. Kathie Way, (say,
to congratulate her for this great achievement), her email is:
[log in to unmask]

The direct link to the collection of mollusks in the Linnaean
collection is: http://www.linnean-online.org/view/shells/shells.html

Enjoy it!

Fabio M.

--------------------------------------

"On May 24th 2010 the Linnean Society of London launched online the
digitised images of the shell collection of the great Swedish
naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778).

The 3,054 new images represent the molluscan specimens held in the
Linnean Society’s strongroom collection.  All major worldwide groups
are represented, the coverage reflecting the stage of exploration that
had been reached in the early 19th century; today of course, Linnaeus’
species represent only a portion of the recent mollusc fauna now known
but as the basis of all shell nomenclature the Linnaean specimens are
invaluable to researchers across the globe. Molluscan taxonomy is in a
constant state of revision and work continues on interpreting the
Linnean collections.

The collection also includes specimens from the collection of the
Society’s founder and first President, Sir James Edward Smith
(1759-1828) who purchased Linnaeus’ collection in 1784 and added his
own to it.

Each specimen is digitally imaged by specialist scientific
photographers at the Natural History Museum in London resulting in
images of superb quality. Each image can be viewed in detail using the
integrated FSI (Flash based single source image viewer). Access to the
system is through the Linnean Society website and can be found at
www.linnean.org under ‘Linnaean Collections Online’.

Supporting taxonomic data, including significant citations, lectotype
designations etc. are being prepared by Kathie Way of the Natural
History Museum, London who is also the Honorary Curator of the
Society’s Linnaean Zoological Collections.  Later this year this
dataset will be added to the Society’s Repository, developed and
hosted by the University of London Computer Centre (ULCC).

The launch of the digitised images of the shells follows the
successful on-line launch in 2007 of the 14,300 Linnaean plant
specimens, the 168 fish specimens, the Lepidoptera (butterflies and
moths) in 2008 and the Hymenoptera images in 2009. These images have
already been accessed from over 45 countries worldwide, underlining
their significance as a key resource for taxonomic research.

The President of the Linnean Society Dr Vaughan Southgate says that
“the launch of the Shell images provides access to a further group of
specimens from the Society’s unique collections, previously only
available to those who could visit the Society’s rooms in London.  The
image quality is such that few will need to handle the priceless
specimens to obtain the information they seek”.

Kathie Way comments “I have been encouraged in this project by the
very positive reactions I have received from molluscan researchers
worldwide to whom I have mentioned its development. At this launch
stage the site will consist of images of all the Linnaean material
held in the strongroom at Burlington House, London, together with
links to the label data prepared by Peter Dance when he curated the
collection for his seminal paper on this historic material. The site
will be a "work in progress" for some time to come and I hope to add a
large tranche of data detailing primary citations, lectotype/neotype
designations etc. before the end of 2010. I hope I have already
captured most of the major theses on the Linnaean types but I would be
very grateful if researchers would let me have any references which
include diagnostic work specifically on the Linnaean shells together
with feedback on any ways in which the site can be made more useful”.

-------------------------------------------------
Fabio Moretzsohn, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Scientist
Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5869, Corpus Christi, TX 78412-5869
Phone: (361) 825-3230; Fax: (361) 825-2050
mollusca [at] gmail.com
Please consider the environment before printing this email.  Think Green!

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------