Protozoology's lost legacy

Abstract

A review of the contents of the Journal of Protozoology/Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology from its founding in 1954 to the present was undertaken to determine if the type specimens of new taxa named in the journal have been deposited in museum collections. Type specimens were deposited in museum collections for 36% of these new species. No information was given on the designation of type specimens or the deposition of specimens for 64% of the taxa named, mostly prior to 1980. Type specimen designations have improved greatly in recent years. All species described in the journal in the last 5 years have been deposited as type specimens or type cultures. Linda Cole's Catalog of Type Specimens in the International Protozoan Type Collection (1994) at the National Museum of Natural History was cross‐checked, and a final list of the missing organisms, grouped by phylum, was prepared. The Harold Kirby and L. R. Cleveland collections at the American Museum of Natural History are examples of how valuable the resource protozoan type specimen collections can be to researchers. Neither of these researchers had made plans to deposit their specimens in a museum. Their collections were saved only by the assistance of their students and colleagues. The author would like to coordinate an effort to find missing type specimens and facilitate their deposition in suitable museum collections.