DiSSCo-ITINERIS Metadata Catalog

1.26

2025-01-26 (12:29:17)

2025-04-15 (08:07:55)

2025-04-15 (00:00:00)

eng

n/a

Occurrence

Specimen

The collection of Tardigrada by Giuseppe Ramazzotti, preserved at the Water Research Institute of the National Research Council (CNR-IRSA) in Verbania, Italy, is composed of numerous slides and microscopic preparations of tardigrades, including animals and their eggs. It is a historical collection that includes samples taken over a period of years from 1938 to 1964 in Europe, Africa, North and South America by one of the Italian taxonomists working on the phylum Tardigrada. The dataset of the Ramazzotti collection is composed of 3319 records, prepared within the Project ITINERIS (Italian Integrated Environmental Research Infrastructures System) dedicated to build the Italian Hub of Research Infrastructures in the environmental scientific domain. The purpose of creating this dataset is to protect the information through the digitalization of the samples, and to facilitate sharing the information on the animals collected by Ramazzotti and stored at CNR-IRSA, Verbania. For this reason, each record in the database is associated with a photograph of the microscopic slide. The data have been organized into a standardized Darwin Core Archive format, so that they can be harmonized and be available globally, through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility infrastructure (GBIF).

In the framework of the project ITINERIS, the Ramazzotti collection of Tardigrada, preserved at the Water Research Institute, National Research Council of Italy (CNR- IRSA) in Verbania, Italy, has been the subject of digitization. It is a historical collection that includes samples taken over a period ranging from 1938 to 1964 from different areas of the world. Most of the samples were taken in Europe, in particular from Italy, but also from Germany, France, Finland, Norway, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Other samples are from Africa (Uganda and Congo), North America (United States and Mexico) and South America (Chile).

tardigrada, Darwin Core, GBIF, occurrence, Specimen

The dataset is composed of taxa belonging to the tardigrade phylum. Taxonomic ranks: Data from species, genus, family, order and class rank were included in the dataset.
Class: Heterotardigrada
Family: Calohypsibiidae
Family: Ramazzottiidae
Family: Richtersiusidae
Family: Isohypsibiidae
Family: Milnesiidae
Family: Hypsibiidae
Order: Echiniscoidea
Phylum: Tradigrada
Family: Echiniscidae
Family: Murrayidae
Family: Oreellidae
Family: Doryphoribiidae
Class: Eutardigrada
Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Apochela
Phylum: Tardigrada
Family: Macrobiotidae
Order: Parachela

Continent: Europe, Africa, North America, South America. Study area by continents and countries: Europe (Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) Africa (Congo and Uganda), North America (Mexico and United States) and South America (Chile).
Min Latitude: -90
Max Latitude: 90
Min Longitude: -180
Max Longitude: 180
Global Coverage: 1

1938 -1964

Zaupa S, Fontaneto D, Piscia R, Kamburska L (2025). Tardigrade Collection of Ramazzotti. Version 1.26. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/wngz4x accessed via GBIF.org on 2025-05-03.

DWC ARCHIVE: https://cloud.gbif.org/eca/archive.do?r=tardigrade_collection_ramazzotti
EML: https://cloud.gbif.org/eca/eml.do?r=tardigrade_collection_ramazzotti

UUID: e9aeed17-b33f-4af2-8471-9be87633d7e1
URL: https://cloud.gbif.org/eca/resource?r=tardigrade_collection_ramazzotti

Study Extent: A total of 4178 records of occurrences for the period 1938-1964 are present in the dataset: 859 refer to slides, 3319 to the actual samples of Tardigrada. Of these, 1751 have a species name, subsumed from the information on the slide, whereas for the others a taxonomic revision is necessary, because the same slide contains more species, and a specialist is needed to attribute each sample to the correct species. However, these individuals have been assigned to a higher taxonomic level such as genus, order or family. Nomenclature of the species was also updated to the currently used synonyms, using WORMS as a reference site (https://www.marinespecies.org). When possible, the coordinates were found by reporting the locations written on the label in Google Earth. Since the specific coordinates of the sampling points are not known, the Locality centroid was used. A total of 204 locations are present in the dataset, but it was possible to trace the coordinates for 88. Data are georeferenced according to WGS 84 datum.
Sampling: As reported on the slide the samples were collected by pumps in an aquatic environment, while for terrestrial ones the sampling methods are unknown. Habitat types for sampling were mosses and lichens in different substrates, soil, water. Different mounting media and colourants were used for the preparation of the slides: mainly Faure and Polyvinyl, but also Formalin, Lactophenol, Carmine Acetic, Chlorazol Black, Eosin methylene, Potassium hydroxide, Turtox CMC-S.
Quality Control: Quality control for geographic data: Reliability of coordinates where available was checked in Google maps. Geographic coordinate format, coordinates within country/provincial boundaries, and the absence of anomalous in the dataset were also double checked. Quality control for taxonomic data: The revision of the species nomenclature was done using WORMS as a reference site. Taxon specialists: Giuseppe Ramazzotti, Walter Maucci.
Method Steps: The specimens were photographed using a microscope Zeiss Axioplan, with TiEsseLab TrueChrome HD IIS camera and Leica DM6 B, with Leica K3C camera. The size of each photo ranges from approximately 5 MB to 18 MB in BMP and Tiff format. The photos have been renamed to give a unique code for each image, using: CollectionCode, the Roman numeral of the box, the slide number and the number of the specimen. When there is only one animal in a slide, the last number has been omitted. e.g.: RamVB-III-31_4 = box III-slide 31_animal 4. The unique code for each photo is the same as that assigned to the record in the database for the same individual. Photos of slides have been renamed with the Roman numeral of the box, the number of the slide, and the letter S, to indicate that it is the image containing the slide.

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ITINERIS, EU - Next Generation EU PNRR- Mission 4 “Education and Research” Component 2: “From research to business” - Investment 3.1: “Fund for the realisation of an integrated system of research and innovation infrastructures”, and National Biodiversity Future Centre (NBFC), funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, PNRR, Missione 4 Componente 2, “Dalla ricerca all’impresa”, Investimento 1.4, Project CN00000033.