FIGURE 1. a in Archives of a small planet: The significance of museum collections and museumbased research in invertebrate taxonomy*

FIGURE 1. a) Jar on the right contains the unsorted arthropods from one night's blacklight trap collection. Insects preserved in alcohol. Jar on left contains specimens which have undergone preliminary sorting to group or species. The white jar top has an alcohol-tight seal that prevents drying out of the contents. US quarter coin for scale. b) Richard Hoffman, VMNH Curator of Recent Invertebrates, identifying and curating insects in his laboratory. c) One drawer of the identified curated VMNH insect collection, stored in Cornell drawers and arranged phylogenetically and geographically to make retrieval easy. d) Types in VMNH arthropod collection. Jars with gold colored tops contain holotypes. Red topped jars are paratype specimens. e) View of some of the VMNH insect collection which is stored in modern steel cabinets that keep specimens dust and pest free.