Images: Types and Vouchers

I have started an effort to connect various images of type specimens, as well as identified vouchers, to the World Checklist.

From past travels to various institutions that hold buprestid types as well as loans of types for study, I have been able to collect a number of images that serve as reference and would serve the wider
community better than if the old slides, and modern digital images, stay hidden in slides boxes or on my hard drives.

The unfortunate truth is that some of these images are of relatively little value. Some were taken while travelling in far less than optimum conditions. An old film camera with one or two flashes,
sometimes hand-held, mostly on a tripod, and before the day when a quick review was possible. Some of these images show that one of the two flashes mis-fired and thus leave an image with too
little light and too much contrast. Some images resulted from bad scans on old scanners, and should be redone. And some of the images are done with modern technology, but insufficient skill.

The results, however, are still better than nothing. Even a single image of the dorsal habitus is useful when making a quick comparison to a specimen as it can help resolve the 'is it?' or 'isn't it?'
question prior to the description of a suspected new taxon. Or imagine a visit to the museums in London, Paris, etc. and be able to view images of types from other institutions in direct comparison
to specimens.

Some institutions have already begun the imaging of their respective type collections, and others are at the beginning or are seeking funding. As more of these institutions and their types collections
become visible, more will be linked to this effort.

There is one caution to mention here: the slides are often labeled as 'T' for type, 'HT' for holotype, 'ST' for syntype, infrequently 'PT' for paratype and perhaps rarely 'LT' for lectotype.
That these type categories are correct or were recorded correctly at the time the image(s) were made is arguable in many cases due to the original labeling by some authors, or subsequent labeling
by curators. Kerremans wrote 'Type' on his labels and Obenberger nearly always did the same while adding the same 'Typus' label. One assumption is that if there is only a single specimen, then it
must be the holotype, but not if there are additional 'type' specimens in other collections. If not a single 'type', then multiple syntypes exist and require a lectotype designation. At the time many of
these images were captured, I followed certain assumptions but these are not necessarily verified and should be with subsequent study and revision until all taxa have a properly determined and
labeled primary type.

There are two ways to get into to these image files, one through a group of images from the same collection and the other is taxon-based, links from within the World Checklist.

Should anyone have images of types that could be contributed, please contact me so that we can collaborate together and build this into a resource that all of our colleagues and future buprestid
workers can benefit from.