A checklist of beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) from the Matobo World Heritage Site, deposited in the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe
Citation
Mafuwe K, Mgumba C (2023). A checklist of beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) from the Matobo World Heritage Site, deposited in the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe. Version 1.8. Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/0kwrqm accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-11.Description
A checklist of Coleoptera species was collated and summarized from data collected from museum specimen records and literature found in the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe with an objective of documenting the diversity of beetles found in the Matobo world Heritage site. The checklist includes 381 species including some accepted names and synonyms from 33 coleopteran families and 228 genera all of which were collected from 1911 to present date.Purpose
The main purpose of this checklist is to document the diversity of beetles found in the Matobo world Heritage site and to improve on the accessibility of data for research and conservation purposes in Zimbabwe. Museum records in general can be used in education sectors and help bring science to the wider public. Documentation of data generally unlocks mounds of information locked away in analogue form in museums. Moreover, as museums often store sizable numbers of specimens, they are quite useful for taxonomical verification and reuse of metadata for various purposes. The compiled list can therefore form a basis for the formulation of hypotheses testing in insect ecology and conservation of biodiversity in the Matobo World heritage site, such as investigating effects of climate change on biodiversity, as well as impacts of invasive species and other related human induced factors on biodiversity in the world heritage site. Policy makers can use the collated information for making policies that protect biodiversity and help ensure its appropriate and sustainable management of the country's Natural resources
Sampling Description
Study Extent
Data on the beetles recorded from the Matobo world heritage site was collated from specimen records, literature and field notes from the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, George Arnold Collection deposited between 1911 and 2017.Sampling
Data on the beetles recorded from the Matobo world heritage site were collated from specimen records and literature in the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, George Arnold Collection deposited between 1911 and 2017. Additional records were also obtained from weekly surveys conducted between March 2015 and August 2016 to collect data from poorly-sampled and under-represented areas of the site, following the literature survey records that had been obtained. The data was collected using stratified random sampling at 5 sites, across the various habitats and sampling points in the world heritage site. Pitfalls, beating trays and sweep nets where used to collect the samples, which were then identified to the lowest possible taxonomic rank using the available keys and the reference collection in the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe. The records where digitized into Microsoft Excel (2010) database and the records where cleaned using OPEN REFINE Data cleaning tool (Version 2.5). Taxonomic ranks, status and authorship were also verified using The Catalogue of Life List Matching Service (2017), Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) database, The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) name parser (2011) and The Global Names Index database where possible.Quality Control
While standardizing the records to DarwinCore standards, we carried out a major effort for checking errors and inconsistencies among the data using Excel and OPEN REFINE Data validation tools. We followed the guidelines proposed by Chapman 2005 and also checked for synonyms and taxonomical errors in the data setMethod steps
- The creation of the checklist included the following processes: 1 A list of beetles recorded from the given study area was obtained from the museum specimen records and literature found in the Natural History Museum Of Zimbabwe Entomology Collection. 2 Digitization and documentation of the list was carried out into Microsft Excel (2010) database using Darwin Core Standards. 3. Data validation and cleaning was then carried out in OPEN REFINE (Version 2.5) as well as Microsoft Excel (2010) data validation tools. 4 The determination of taxonomic status and authorship and chekcing for taxonomic errors was carried out using The Catalogue of life List Matching Service, Encyclopead of Life (EOL) database, The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) name parser and The Global Names index database where possible. 5. The dataset was then uploaed and published on the the GBIF databse using The Integrated Publishing Toolkit (version 1.2) for the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe
Taxonomic Coverages
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Colepteracommon name: Beetles rank: order
Geographic Coverages
Bibliographic Citations
- Chapman, A. D. 2005. Principles of Data Quality, version 1.0. Report for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Copenhagen. ISBN 87-92020-03-8. Available online at http://www.gbif.org/resource/80509. -
- OpenRefine. A free, open source, power tool for working with messy data [Internet]. [cited 6 Jun 2017]. < http://www.openrefine.org>. -
- GBIF (2011). GBIF Name Parser. Copenhagen: Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed the [6 June 2017]. Available online at http://tools.gbif.org/nameparser/. -
- Encyclopedia of Life. Available from http://www.eol.org. Accessed 6 June 2017. -
- Catalouge of Life List Matching Serivce. Available from http://www.catalogueoflife.org/content/list-matching-service. Accessed 6 June 2017. -
- The Global Names Index. Available from http://gni.globalnames.org/name_strings. Accessed 6 June 2017. -
Contacts
Kudzai Mafuweoriginator
position: Curator of Entomology
Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe
Corner Leopold Takawira and Park Street
Bulawayo
P. O. Box 240
Bulawayo
ZW
Telephone: +2639250045
email: kudzimaffy@gmail.com
Chiedza Mgumba
originator
position: Research Assistant/ Volunteer
Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe
Corner Leopold Takawira and Park Street
Bulawayo
P. O. Box 240
Bulawayo
ZW
Telephone: +2639250045
email: lalindacm@gmail.com
Kudzai Mafuwe
metadata author
position: Curator of Entomology
Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe
Corner Leopold Takawira and Park Street
Bulawayo
P. O. Box 240
Bulawayo
ZW
Telephone: 2639250045
email: kudzimaffy@gmail.com
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2018-9758
Kudzai Mafuwe
curator
position: Curator of Entomology
Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe
Corner Leopold Takawira and Park Street
Bulawayo
P. O. Box 240
Bulawayo
ZW
Telephone: +2639250045
email: kudzimaffy@gmail.com
Kudzai Mafuwe
administrative point of contact
position: Curator of Entomology
Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe
Corner Leopold Takawira and Park Street
Bulawayo
P. O. Box 240
Bulawayo
ZW
Telephone: +2639250045
email: kudzimaffy@gmail.com