AMISTAD

The AMISTAD project focuses on the rapid description of species using integrative taxonomy. We combine traditional morphology with molecular techniques to make research more efficient.

This project will benefit various stakeholders by producing new information to speed species descriptions in some of the most poorly resolved butterfly groups and hyper-diverse areas of the planet.

Describing new species from specimens collected hundreds of years ago is an urgent task, as many populations already face threats from land-use changes and climate change. Some of these species might already be extinct, especially if their habitats no longer exist.

Naming new species will also help fill gaps in the tree of life, understand species relationships, expand biodiversity inventories and draw conservation attention to potentially threatened species.

Information gathered will be available to the wider global research community through publications and the Museum’s Data Portal, as well as to the public through outreach.

Aims

The main objective of the project is to collaboratively describe new butterfly species using specimens from the collections. This will help fill information gaps in the Neotropical region, assist in the conservation of habitats where these species still exist, and increase national and regional inventories.

Over the course of this project, we want to:

• Unlock critical data from historically important types and unnamed specimens in the collections, which are essential for describing new species and initiating conservation actions.
• Exponentially grow the impact of the collections and collaborate with a global network of experts to accelerate species discovery.

Who is involved?

We actively partner with other butterfly experts and well-recognised institutions from some of the plant’s most biodiverse tropical regions. These collaborations not only strengthen scientific exchange but also support data sharing, aligning with the Museum’s principles.

What is the Museum’s role in the project?

We have built a multidisciplinary team who have developed and tested a pipeline to database and sequence historically valuable specimens from the scientific collections. The project is led by two of the Museum’s Principal Curators: Dr Blanca Huertas, an expert in butterflies, and Dr Ben Price, an expert in museomics. The Bioinformatics component is led by expert Dr Christer Fåhraeus and postdoctoral researcher Dr Jordan Beasley.

The scientific collections of the Natural History Museum are among the largest in the world, with more than 5.2 million butterfly specimens. The collections offer worldwide coverage with some dating back more than 400 years.

As specimens and DNA deteriorate over time, dedicated techniques for studying and preserving genetic material in our historical collections are urgently needed. The collections will benefit from an unprecedented investment opportunity. Primary type specimens and unnamed specimens likely to become type specimens will be studied, re-housed for preservation, individually catalogued, sequenced and photographed to maximise physical and digital preservation.

Methods

We have tested a workflow pipeline working with historically valuable specimens from the butterfly collections, training and consolidating an interdisciplinary team.

Using integrative taxonomy, such as combining detailed morphological and molecular analysis, will allow us to resolve the relations among the butterfly groups studied. This will produce detailed descriptions of new taxa. We are teaming up with partners from the tropical countries where the specimens originated. This will increase the impact of our research and the value of the scientific collections in global research and conservation.

Summary of all methods used