CURATION AND ORGANIZATION PROCESS

Curation

The majority of the specimens of the Collection are stored in glass jars of 4000, 1000, 750 and 250 ml capacity, the individuals of larger sizes are stored in plastic drums. All specimens are preserved in 70% ethanol. Unlike most collections, CIACOL does not store batches in phylogenetic order, but, according to the size of the containers, which are organized on metal shelves to optimize the available physical space. To speed up the search of material, a map is updated periodically with the exact location of each lot. Every year control is carried out on the concentration of ethanol and based on it the refill of the preservative substance.

As part of the process of managing and systematizing the information obtained from the work of CIACOL, to date 240 cataloging records of species have been prepared; we have the edited digital images of 500 lots, in their lateral, ventral and dorsal views. The information of the catalog sheets as well as those related to sampling sites, meristic data, morphometrics and consulted bibliographies, have been entered in the Database, where 860 records can currently be consulted.