Abstract Detail

Biodiversity Informatics & Herbarium Digitization

Gutierrez-Gonzalez, Nelly [1], Koontz, Jason [1], Brosius, Tierney [1], Medina, Rafael [1].

The value of small collections: 12 unaccounted type specimens from the 1893 Rydberg expedition to Nebraska discovered in a liberal arts college.

During the official consolidation of the AUGIE herbarium in 2017, we discovered a set of more than 400 labelled, unmounted specimens from Nebraska collected in the summer of 1893. They are duplicates from the botanical expedition to the Sand Hills commissioned by the USDA and led by Per Axel Rydberg (1860-1931). While the majority of the specimens of the expedition are in NY and NEB, these duplicates have remained at Augustana College, Illinois, for over 120 years, unknown to the botanical community. Our research concluded that they were collected by Nels Peter Tulen, field assistant of the expedition, and student of the college at the time. With the help of a team of undergraduate student volunteers, we have mounted, assessed, and digitized the collection, uploading images and metadata to the iDigBio repository through the Consortium of Midwest Herbaria. The Tulen collection includes duplicates of nomenclatural type specimens of 12 taxa described by Rydberg and others in the years following the expedition, such as a paratype of Carduus plattensis Rydb. and isotypes of Helianthus subrhomboideus Rydb.; Liatris glabrata Rydb.; or Tradescantia virginiana var. occidentalis Britton. This finding exemplifies the potential hidden in small herbaria when combined with their digitization into open biocollection repositories.

1 - Augustana College, Biology, 639 38th Street, Rock Island, Illinois, 61201, USA

Keywords:
Herbaria
Curation
Digitization
iDigBio
Nomenclature
history.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: BIHD1, Biodiversity Informatics & Herbarium Digitization I
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2020
Time: 4:15 PM
Number: BIHD1006
Abstract ID:548
Candidate for Awards:None