Decontaminating pesticide-exposed museum collections

2010 ◽  
pp. 45-50 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Museum Collections

The Effects of the sphragis on male and female genitalia in Acraea (Nymphalidae) butterflies

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon L Summers ◽  
Akito Y Kawahara ◽  
Ana P. S. Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Interspecific Variation ◽  
Sperm Storage ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
Storage Organ ◽  
Mating Plug ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Comparison And Analysis ◽  
Imagej Software ◽  
Sexually Antagonistic Coevolution

Male mating plugs have been used in many species to prevent female re-mating and sperm competition. One of the most extreme examples of a mating plug is the sphragis, which is a large, complex and externalized plug found only in butterflies. This structure is found in many species in the genus Acraea (Nymphalidae) and provides an opportunity for investigation of the effects of the sphragis on the morphology of the genitalia, which is poorly understood. This study aims to understand morphological interspecific variation in the genitalia of Acraea butterflies. Using specimens from museum collections, abdomen dissections were conducted on 19 species of Acraea: 9 sphragis bearing and 10 non-sphragis bearing species. Genitalia imaging was performed for easier comparison and analysis and measurements of genitalia structures was done using ImageJ software. Some distinguishing morphological features in the females were found. The most obvious difference is the larger and more externalized copulatory opening in sphragis bearing species, with varying degrees of external projections. Females of the sphragis bearing species also tend to have a shorter ductus (the structure that connects the copulatory opening with the sperm storage organ) than those without the sphragis. These differences may be due to a sexually antagonistic coevolution between the males and females, where the females evolve larger and more difficult to plug copulatory openings and the males attempt to prevent re-mating with the sphragis.

William Smyth (1838–1913), a commercial taxidermist of Dunedin, New Zealand

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosi Crane ◽  
B. J. GILL
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
Professional Interaction ◽  
New Zealand Birds ◽  
Public Museum

William Smyth, unable to get work in a New Zealand museum, ran a commercial taxidermy business at Caversham, Dunedin, from about 1873 to 1911 or 1912. His two decades of correspondence with Thomas Frederic Cheeseman at the Auckland Museum provide a case study of Smyth's professional interaction with one of New Zealand's main museums. We have used this and other sources to paint a picture of Smyth's activities and achievements during a time when there was great interest in New Zealand birds but few local taxidermists to preserve their bodies. Besides the Auckland Museum, Smyth supplied specimens to various people with museum connections, including Georg Thilenius (Germany) and Walter Lawry Buller (New Zealand). Smyth was probably self-taught, and his standards of preparation and labelling were variable, but he left a legacy for the historical documentation of New Zealand ornithology by the large number of his bird specimens that now reside in public museum collections in New Zealand and elsewhere.

Structure and Dynamics of Crucians’ Settlements (Cypriniformes, Carassius) in Water Systems of Eastern Ukraine

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 269-284
Author(s):  
S. V. Mezhzherin ◽  
A. V. Kulish ◽  
S. V. Kokodiy
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Retrospective Analysis ◽  
Crucian Carp ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
Numerous Species ◽  
Extinct Species ◽  
Structure And Dynamics ◽  
Competitive Relations

Abstract The analysis of present-day crucians’ settlements in water systems of Eastern Ukraine designated the predominance of the digeneous Goldfish, C. auratus, in the region, the number of which made 78.7 %, from the total number of the examined representatives of the genus. The second group consists of gynogenetic Prussian carps, C. gibelio (14.3 %); it is represented by the clone biotype and recombinant individuals. Crucian carp, C. carassius (3.6 %), turned out to be rare and its number did not exceed the number of the caught hybrids C. auratus × C. carassius (3.4 %). The retrospective analysis of literature data and museum collections gave an opportunity to describe the changes in species composition of the genus which took place during the last 150 years. Within this period the crucian carp, which used to be the single and most common representative of genus Carassius (Jarocki, 1822) in the region, became nearly an extinct species. In the meanwhile the representatives of the group of species of Prussian carps, C. auratus + C. gibelio, which appeared in the region in the late 1960s, rapidly increased their number and became the most numerous fish of the Eastern Ukraine. The discovered tendency is not unique for the researched region; in general it reflects the European tendency for the crucian species. The reasons for that are rivers’ regulation and destruction of bottomland ecosystems. The secondary factors for the elimination of C. carassius are the competitive relations of individuals representing both species and easy hybridization, during which the more numerous species C. auratus absorbs the rare C. carassius.

Library and Museum Collections Digitization Projects in Finland

2009 ◽  
pp. 95-100
Author(s):  
Yulia S. Chechikova
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Scientific Heritage

Digitization of a national cultural and scientific heritage is one of the long-term strategic problems of the European countries’ governments. Member countries of the European Union make major efforts in providing access to their cultural heritage. In the article the process of an access provision is described for Finland.

Byzantine-period lamps from Antioch-on-the-Orontes and its hinterland

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ani Eblighatian
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Art Museum ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
The University ◽  
Roman Syria

The paper is an off-shoot of the author's PhD project on lamps from Roman Syria (at the University of Geneva in Switzerland), centered mainly on the collection preserved at the Art Museum of Princeton University in the United States. One of the outcomes of the research is a review of parallels from archaeological sites and museum collections and despite the incomplete documentation i most cases, much new insight could be gleaned, for the author's doctoral research and for other issues related to lychnological studies. The present paper collects the data on oil lamps from byzantine layers excavated in 1932–1939 at Antioch-on-the-Orontes and at sites in its vicinity (published only in part so far) and considers the finds in their archaeological context.

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF PALEONTOLOGY

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren Allmon ◽  
◽  
Gregory P. Dietl ◽  
Gregory P. Dietl ◽  
Robert M. Ross ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Museum Collections

USING MUSEUM COLLECTIONS TO STUDY BRACHIOPOD SIZE CHANGE ACROSS EXTINCTION BOUNDARIES - TAKING ADVANTAGE OF MASS DIGITISATION

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe Hughes ◽  
◽  
Kenneth G. Johnson ◽  
Rachel Belben ◽  
Chris Hughes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Museum Collections ◽  
Size Change

Computer Vision Tagging the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Collection

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Elena Villaespesa ◽  
Seth Crider
Keyword(s):  
Computer Vision ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
Object Image ◽  
Metropolitan Museum ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
Vision Systems ◽  
Computer Vision Systems ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Ibm Watson

Computer vision algorithms are increasingly being applied to museum collections to identify patterns, colors, and subjects by generating tags for each object image. There are multiple off-the-shelf systems that offer an accessible and rapid way to undertake this process. Based on the highlights of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, this article examines the similarities and differences between the tags generated by three well-known computer vision systems (Google Cloud Vision, Amazon Rekognition, and IBM Watson). The results provide insights into the characteristics of these taxonomies in terms of the volume of tags generated for each object, their diversity, typology, and accuracy. In consequence, this article discusses the need for museums to define their own subject tagging strategy and selection criteria of computer vision tools based on their type of collection and tags needed to complement their metadata.

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