A Huge Thank You with More to Come!

First off thank you so much for taking the time to help transcribe the “Banded Yellow Butterfly” expedition. This expedition was challenging, but you persisted and that shows the amount of care you have for helping natural history collections. Thank you also for providing comments and suggestions. They have been noted and where possible incorporated in to this next expedition for a smoother transcription experience. That being said, let me introduce you to our new expedition “Mixed Bag of Specimens” from the McGuire Center.

The McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at the Florida Museum of Natural of History is home to one of the largest Lepidoptera collections in the world. Since the opening of the center in 2004, it is has grown rapidly and now has nearly 10 million specimens. The McGuire Center was founded by combining collections from the Allyn Museum (then located in Sarasota, Florida) and the Lepidoptera holdings of the Florida State Collection of Arthropods. While students and staff are constantly contributing to the collection, its growth is primarily due to donations from private collections.

With such big and vast collection, digitizing has taken place on all three floors of collections and with all different species. In this expedition, you will find a mixed bag of specimens to transcribe. All specimens are moths, but there are different species and various layouts. Don’t be discouraged, the information you seek is there.

As you know transcribing this data is extremely important part of the digitization effort. Thank you for taking the time to help! The information that you transcribe is essential to our ongoing research. It enhances data sets and helps answer questions about the history and behavior of these moths and butterflies. We value your contributions to the scientific community, and we thank you for devoting your time and effort to help us complete these butterfly projects.

— Stacey L. Huber, McGuire Center for Lepidoptera & Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History