Drs. Caira, Menard and Goffinet were awarded $696,447 (DBI—2333910) from the national Science Foundation for a project: Lions and tiger sharks, and hares…oh my! Stabilizing and providing digital access to eight decades of parasites from vertebrates. 

Overview: This project focuses on nine historical collections of vertebrate metazoan parasites donated to UConn’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology’s Biodiversity Research Collection facility over the past two decades. These collections are the result of 80 years of fieldwork by expert parasitologists and students. The collections comprise 113,800 microscope slides, 13,850 vials, and 528 jars of fluid-preserved specimens complemented by 10,479 necropsy sheets and cards detailing host specimen data. Hosts include at least 716 species in 430 genera representing 74 vertebrate orders. The three most speciose phyla of vertebrate parasites (i.e., Platyhelminthes, Arthropoda, and Nematoda) are represented. We have focused our immediate efforts on stabilization and curation, which has revealed the scope of curatorial work needed to showcase these unique collections. Over 3,500 slides need remounting, 3,200 slides need their labels to be re-attached, and 9,520 vials must be replaced with archival vials and lids. We also now recognize the magnitude of manpower required to properly accession and digitize the approximately 128,000 specimens and containers. We are seeking funds to complete these tasks. The full curation of these unique collections and dissemination of all their data publicly through the Lawrence R. Penner Parasitology portal, iDigBio, and GBIF, will make it possible for these irreplaceable collections to achieve their full potential as a resource for discovering novelty and exploring a wide array of questions about the ecology and evolution of vertebrate parasites.

See 2024 NSF Collection grant for more info.

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