Digitized Beetle Specimen Records from the California Channel Islands

Over 26,000 digitized specimen records of Coleoptera (beetles) from the California Channel Islands. The dataset is curated and managed in the Ecdysis data portal by M. Andrew Johnston of Arizona State University. Subsets are available for each of the eight individual islands.

Use Cases

• Analyze species distribution and richness across the eight Channel Islands based on the island-specific record subsets.
• Study beetle biodiversity and community composition in island ecosystems based on the specimen records.
• Conduct biogeographical research on Coleoptera based on the geospatial context of the California Channel Islands.
• Support conservation planning by identifying species presence and potential endemism based on the specimen collection data.

Strengths

• Contains over 26,000 digitized specimen records, providing a substantial data volume.
• Records are curated and organized by specific island, with eight distinct subsets available.
• Managed in a dedicated data portal (Ecdysis), suggesting structured access and potential versioning.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Row count for the full dataset is not specified beyond the total record figure.

Provenance

Source

Ecdysis data portal, Arizona State University

Collection Method

Digitized specimen records from collections.

Geography

California Channel Islands (San Clemente, San Nicolas, Santa Catalina, Santa Barbara, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa)