Biodiv Sci ›› 2017, Vol. 25 ›› Issue (5): 513-517.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2017032

• Original Papers • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A catalogue of animal type specimens from the Shennongjia World Natural Heritage Site, China

Youbing Zhou, Xiaolin Yu, Nan Wu, Guozhen Shen, Gaoming Xiong, Wenting Xu, Dayong Fan, Changming Zhao, Zongqiang Xie*()   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093
  • Received:2017-02-09 Accepted:2017-05-03 Online:2017-05-20 Published:2017-06-06
  • Contact: Xie Zongqiang

Abstract:

Type specimens provide the taxonomic basis for publishing and naming new species, and thus have scientific importance. Mt. Shennongjia is the highest mountain in Central China, and its unique fauna and flora have attracted global attention and interest from naturalists for centuries. Based on historical literature, we provide an updated catalogue of animal type specimens from the Shennongjia World Natural Heritage Site, where a total of 275 species of type specimens belonging to 3 phyla, 5 classes, 22 orders, 91 families, and 170 genera have been collected. The first catalogue of type specimens in Shennongjia occurred in 1960, with two subsequent peaks in collection occurring in 1977-1986 and in 2009. The time delay between collection and publication varied from 0 to 34 years, however, most type descriptions were published within 10 years of collection (222, 80.73%). Species were published in 163 scientific papers, mostly authored by domestic scholars (245, 89.09%). These type specimens are currently deposited across 62 institutions and in private collections. Our comprehensive and integrative curation of these animal type specimens meets the requirements of the World Heritage Centre, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to further improve site management and conservation. Recent publications described several new species, suggesting that the number of species in the Shennongjia World Natural Heritage Site may have been underestimated and further surveys should be undertaken in the future.

Key words: type specimens, Shennongjia World Natural Heritage Site, new species, holotype, paratypes