For the purposes of the LACMIP Specimen Catalog, a single "lot" of specimens is defined as: one or more specimens of, ideally, a single species that were collected from a locality by a collector during a site visit or other sampling method. The specimen count indicates the number of pieces in the lot, including any fragments. In addition to "specimens", a single lot may be composed of: a "bulk" sample that contains numerous unsorted fossils; or one or more "rock" samples that contain numerous unprepared fossils; or, in some special cases, a man-made "replica" of an actual fossil.
Taxonomic identifications of the specimen lots were made to the lowest possible level currently used in the classification of each particular group, normally the species level. Unidentified species have been cataloged under the genus to which they belong; unidentified genera have been cataloged under the family to which they belong; and so on up through the classification. Mixed lots, or unsorted lots, have been cataloged under the most specific taxonomic level possible for that particular lot. For example, a lot may have been cataloged as "Gastropoda" if it was determined to be composed of one or more unidentified species of gastropods. In other situations, a group of specimens may contain representatives of two (or more) species that are inseparable, as in the cases where one species is attached to the shell of another species. In these cases, the group of specimens has been cataloged as two lots, thus each different species has been given its own unique lot number, and each of the two lots has been cross-referenced with each other by adding the other lot number in the Alternate Lot Number fields. Examples of inseparable lots include: barnacles attached to gastropods; bryozoans attached to bivalves; corals attached to mollusks; sponge galleries in mollusk shells; gastropod bore holes in other mollusk shells; and so on.
The LACMIP lot ID number is the LACMIP locality number followed by a dash and another number. Each LACMIP locality has its own series of lot numbers that begin with the number 1 and continue as far as necessary in order to number all of the lots from that particular locality. For example, if there are 100 lots of invertebrate fossils from LACMIP locality 00000, then they were numbered 00000-1 through 00000-100. By using this kind of numbering system, each locality number - lot number combination is unique in the LACMIP Specimen Catalog.
The Search for Lots page enables the user to search for fossils cataloged in the LACMIP collections by using several different fields either alone or in combination. The search fields are: LACMIP Locality (number); Lot Number; Include only lots with images (an option box to click); Taxon Name (with separate fields for Level and Name); Common Name; Geography (city, county, state, country); Age; Unit (stratigraphic), with fields for Member, Formation, and Group; Collector; Accession Number; Alternate Lot Number (with fields for Institution code and number); and Description (in regard to the locality description). Partial matching is used in all of the search fields.
Results of specimen lot searches are listed in ascending numeric order. The detailed record of any of the resulting specimen lots can be viewed by clicking on the numbered button along the left margin of the screen. Refer to the Results of lot searches section for additional comments on search results.
This field enables the user to search for all of the specimen lots that belong to a single locality or a range of localities. Enter either one LACMIP locality number (00000) or a range of numbers (00000-00000) into this field.
This field enables the user to search for lot numbers. When used without a LACMIP locality number, the results will show all lots that contain the searched lot number. When entered and searched in combination with a search of the LACMIP locality number, the results will be limited to specimen lots that match both fields.
A separate box adjacent to the LACMIP lot number field allows the user to limit the search results to include only specimen lots with images by clicking the box. Selection of this option is useful if one of the search priorities is to locate an illustration of a specimen.
The specimen lot identifications can be searched by selecting a taxonomic level from the pick list and entering a taxon name in the adjacent field. Partial matching is used for this search. The Taxon Name search fields can be used to determine if any particular taxon is currently in the database. The "Level" pick list of the taxonomic hierarchy precedes the "Name" entry field. Select a taxonomic level from the pick list by clicking on the line and then enter a taxon name in the adjacent "Name" box. Note that partial matching is not used for this search field. If only the taxon name fields are searched, then the results will show all lots which contain the searched level and name.
Select from one of nine taxonomic levels in the database file by clicking on the appropriate line. Only one level may be chosen for each search.
This field can be used to search for specimen lots by using an organism's common name. For example, a search of the common name "scallop" will return lots in which that word is part of the common name. With this type of search capability, it is possible for those without much expertise in taxonomy to make an attempt to identify something that they may have picked up on the beach or in the local mountains by locating similar specimens in the LACMIP collections.
The four geography fields are City, County, State, and Country. Partial matching is used in these fields. For example, searching for "New" in the State field will yield results with specimen lots from New Mexico as well as New York.
The age limits of the specimen lot search are selected from two pick lists, one for the upper limit and one for the lower limit. The age or age range of any particular lot search is entered by selecting the latest (youngest) possible age and the earliest (oldest) possible age from the two pick lists, Upper (limit) and Lower (limit), respectively. Note that the pick lists contain the only ages that are acceptable as entries in these fields. The ages on the pick lists are from the most current Geological Society of America 1999 Geologic Time Scale and they are listed in stratigraphic order, youngest at the top and oldest at the bottom. For situations where there is only a single age, not a range, then enter the same age on both the Upper (limit) and Lower (limit) pick lists. If no age limits are selected, then the entire LACMIP specimen catalog will be searched without regard for geologic age of the lots.
The Unit fields enable the user to search for specimens that originated from a particular stratigraphic Member, Formation or Group. Note that partial matching is used. For example, if "Canyon" is searched in the Formation field, then the results will contain lots from all formations that have a name containing the word "Canyon".
The Collector field enables the user to search for specimens that were collected by a particular person. The search field is actually for the last name of the collector. Lots with multiple collectors with the same last name will appear once for each time the same collector's last name appears on the same lot.
The LACMIP specimen catalog can be searched by entering the NHMLAC accession number that was assigned to a collection by the Museum's Registrar when it was accessioned by the Museum. The results of this kind of search would show all of the lots that were acquired through any particular accession.
The Alternate Number fields enable the user to search for specimen lots that were formerly cataloged at another institution, LACMIP type specimens, and LACMIP reference specimens. Searches in the Institutional Codes (acronym) and related lot Number fields are discussed below.
Note that if two (or more) inseparable species were present in the same group of specimens, then an additional lot number and lot identification were entered for each of the other species in the group. Each of these different lots has been cross-referenced with its counterpart by adding the other associated LACMIP lot number in the Alternate Lot Number fields. This additional lot number was added to the alternate lot number field in order to make it easier to locate the related lots while searching the database and to help identify the groups of specimens that contain other attached (epibiont) or boring (endobiont) organisms.
This field enables the user to search for specimen lots that were formerly cataloged at another institution, LACMIP type specimens, and LACMIP reference specimens. Acronyms of other institutions that have been entered in this field include CIT (California Institute of Technology), CSUN (California State University Northridge), UCLA (University of California Los Angeles), and USC (University of Southern California). Thus, the results of a search for UCLA in the Institutional Code field would show all lots that originally were part of the UCLA invertebrate paleontology collection.
The following are the special alternative designations currently used for certain LACMIP specimen lots.
In addition to the regular LACMIP lot number, LACMIP type specimens have been assigned a special type number from a separate series of numbers used specifically for the lots that contain type specimens. The LACMIP type number is an alternate lot number for database purposes. To search for lots in the LACMIP type collection, enter "LACMIP type" in the Institutional Code field and, if known, also enter a type number in the adjacent number field. All LACMIP type specimens are arranged taxonomically in a separate collection and stored in a high security room.
The Institutional Code field also enables the user to search for LACMIP lots that have been removed from the main collections and placed in a separate reference collection. To search for lots in the LACMIP reference collection, enter the word "reference" in the Institutional Code field. The reference collection specimens do not have a separate series of numbers. The current LACMIP reference collection contains selected lots of Pleistocene mollusks.
This field enables the user to indirectly search for lots by searching the description field of the LACMIP locality descriptions.
The Search button initiates a search for the data entries currently shown in any of the fields.
Lot search results are listed in ascending numeric order based first on LACMIP locality number and secondly on lot number within each locality. The detailed record of any of the results shown in a search for lots can be viewed by clicking on the numbered button along the left margin of the screen. For lots with images, clicking on the lot image will enlarge the image to fill the screen. The search can be modified or a new search can be initiated by using the left two of the four buttons at the bottom of the screen showing the list of lots. The "Download Lot List" button at the bottom of the screen allows the user to download the lot data as a text file which can then be imported into a spreadsheet such as Excel. The "Get Labels" button in the bottom right of the list of lots screen creates a pdf file of the lot labels used in the LACMIP collections. Buttons at the bottom of the detailed lot record screen allow the user to return to the list of lots (the "List Lots" button), as well as to perform the four functions described above.