Digital Archives of Taiwan Malacofauna Database

Wen Lung Wu1

1 Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd., Nankang Dist., Taipei, Taiwan

Corresponding author(s): Wen Lung Wu (malacolg@gate.sinica.edu.tw)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Wu W L (2022): Digital Archives of Taiwan Malacofauna Database. v2.2. Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility (TaiBIF). Dataset/Occurrence. https://ipt.taibif.tw/resource?r=mlsp&v=2.2

Abstract

The Taiwan Malacofauna Database includes information on 292 families, 3,818 species of Taiwan shells. The database consists of many sub-databases: “Checklist of Taiwan shells,” “Shell specimens from Taiwan,” “New species and new records of shells from Taiwan,” “The shells of world,” “Reference of shells,” “Shell middens in Taiwan,” “Shell fossils from Taiwan,” “Radula and ultrastructure of shells,” and “Chinese characters of shell.”
2022-11-09 update: This dataset is updated to troubleshoot the issue of https://github.com/gbif/portal-feedback/issues/4369 . Upon checking, we realised the core of this dataset can be separated into 'Checklist' and 'Observation/Specimen'. Hence, the current dataset of this page only keeps the 'Observation/Specimen' and we created another dataset to keep the 'Checklist' (link: https://ipt.taibif.tw/resource?r=mlsp-checklist ).

Keywords: Mollusca, Shell, Taiwan, Occurrence, Specimen, Occurrence

Project details

Project title: Digital Archives of Taiwan Malacofauna Database
Personnel: Wen Lung Wu
Funding: Academia Sinica
Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program(TELDAP)
Study area descriptions/descriptor: Shell samples were collected from different ecological environments in Taiwan such as land, rivers, lakes, forests, mountains, shore-side and coastal seawaters.

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.taibif.tw/resource?r=mlsp

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: General taxonomic coverage description: Mollusca
Taxonomic ranks
Phylum: Mollusca

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Main Taiwan island, Penghu, Orchid Island, Green Island, Kinmen and Matsu
Coordinates: 21°10'48''N and 26°37'12''N Latitude; 119°1'12''E and 123°12'0''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: January 1, 1960 - December 31, 2011

Methods

Method step description: 1. Survey environment, determine sampling locality.
2. Carry tools such as GPS (Global Positioning System) to collect specimens.
3. Clean, sort and identify specimens.
4. Take photos of selected specimens.
5. Enter the scientific name, GIS distribution data, habitat, collection date, abundance, photos and other basic information into the computer. Search for relevant literature and enter into database the shell species which has already been recorded in the same area.
Study extent description: Different ecological environments in Taiwan such as land, rivers, lakes, forests, mountains, shore-side and coastal seawaters.
Sampling description: Samples were collected at least once a month. Based on the latest aerial images, sampling locations in various geographical landscapes were selected. Shells were divided into 4 groups according to their habitats, and as many different species of shells as possible in each group were collected and brought back to the lab to identify. The same species which had been collected before, but at different locality or month, were collected again to avoid misidentifying similar species. Also, the growth condition or age distribution of the same species in different months can be studied. In addition to sampling, a comprehensive survey of a location was conducted with the help of digital imaging system and GIS (Geographic Information System). The dry shells of the specimens were stored at room temperature and the soft tissues were preserved in 95% alcohol so that they can be used for future studies of genetic diversity.

Shells were divided into:
(1) sea shellfish－coastal, offshore and benthic shellfish.
(2) instream and estuary shellfish－freshwater shellfish.
(3) terrestrial shell－land snails.
(4) alpine lake shellfish－Sphaeridae and Pisidiidae clams.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Digital Archives of Taiwan Malacofauna Database
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.taibif.tw/archive.do?r=mlsp
Publication date of data: 2022-11-09
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2013-08-12
Hierarchy level: Dataset