Surreal! The red folders are #type specimens at #NaturalHistoryMuseumLondon. [Type specimens are the very definition of a species and therefore really important]. The red shelf contains the NHM's collections of #Stelis #orchids from the region 23 (Tropical South America).
#HerbariumLife #CuratorLife

#Herbaria are not just about #plants but also about #history. #CuratorLife is also about learning about collectors. Today, I solved the mystery of a collector from India, "Col. R.S. Vine". It's Roland Stephen Vine (1910-2003). He was with the #RAMC, the Royal Army Medical Corps, and stationed in India between 1936 and 1939. That's when we have his collections from India from. But he also collected in the UK and Greece but those collections are in Kew #Herbarium.

@cgbrooding I love love love a good puzzle!! I can’t wait till we move into our house and we have the space for me to do all the puzzles I’ve been saving up to do! I might have a cheeky puzzle collection 🙃🤣👌🏻 #actuallyautistic #autisticcollections #itsnotaproblemok #curatorlife

Last summer, Dr. Adrian Smith joined me in the field to capture video of the excavation of an undescribed species of burrowing crayfish. Three hours of digging (we were in the middle of a dry spell), untold numbers of mosquito bites, and a wee bit of caked on mud later I got one. And Adrian’s footage of it was magical; check out the video on his AntLab YouTube channel here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rBnRKcpK8Rs&feature=youtu.be

#crustmas #crayfish #crustacea #fieldwork #curatorlife

Woke up this morning into a bleak new world where the wasp family Pteromalidae has been split into 24 families and I am somehow going to have to learn them, and then find two weeks somewhere, to update the collection I curate.

https://jhr.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=94263&journal_name=jhr

#CuratorLife #Entomology #Hymenoptera

One wouldn't mount #herbarium specimens like this anymore, but this one from #NHMLondon does have an artistic appeal.
#MastoArt #ModernArt #HerbariumLife #CuratorLife @museum

Mistakes happen, even in a great #herbarium. It is a bit unfortunate though if specimen labels were switched accidentally and both specimens are types. 😬😳
But great if one can figure that problem out. 😁

#HerbariumLife #CuratorLife

Working on a new collection of Coors Scientific Porcelain (which is to technical ceramics what Pyrex is to glass). Some very cool lab, domestic, and commercial artifacts! #curatorlife #newcollections #coloradohistory