Costa Rica Digital Catalogue, 2005

Section Responsible for Processing (Top)

MBPC

Significance (Top)

Dr. Ingo Wehrtmann (University of Costa Rica) and Leslie Harris (Polychaete Collections Manager, NHMLAC) are collaborating on a Digital Catalogue of Costa Rican marine invertebrates. Invertebrates were collected on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica, photographed, and preserved. Larger marine organisms such as fish, corals, and lobsters are relatively well known to most people while the smaller ones like crabs & worms are unknown. These images, along with explanatory text, will be exhibited at schools and museums to foster the public's appreciation of marine cryptofauna and its role in the coastal ecosystem. The preserved specimens are deposited here at NHMLAC and at the UCR Zoological Museum.

Background (Top)

The principal investigator, Dr. Ingo Wehrtmann, received partial funding and in-kind support from the University of Costa Rica (UCR). Harris' expenses were paid in part by UCR and partly by personal funds. Some of the images have been used in the book Marine Biodiversity of Costa Rica, eds. I.S. Wehrtmann & J. Cortes, 2009, Monographiae Biologicae volume 86, Springer Sciences + Business Media B.V.

Collection Location and Dates (Top)

Collections were made in August 2005 on both coasts of Costa Rica. Principle sites were Puerto Viejo and Punta Cahuita on the Caribbean coast and at Golfito and Punta Uvitas on the Pacific coast. All sites were intertidal. Detailed locality information is contained the MBPC database.

Taxonomic Contents (Top)

Material returned to this Museum was primarily polychaetes, some crustaceans, and a few lots containing other phyla. The bulk of the crustaceans were retained for the UCR Zoological Museum. The emphasis was on collecting specimens in good condition for photography.

Polychaetes: 78 lots
Crustacea: 52 lots
Mollusca: 9 lots
Echinodermata: 3 lots
Brachiopoda, Cnidaria, Sipuncula, fish: 1 lot each

Documentation (Top)

Field notes are retained by L. Harris in the Polychaete Office. All locality and specimen data has been entered into the MBPC database.

Description of Collection (Top)

All specimens are wet-preserved in either 5% formalin or 70% ethanol. Material was field-sorted to morphospecies before photography and vialed separately. Material is being curated by the MBPC.

Collection Inventory (Top)