<
p id="
p-1">The reliability of any survey of biodiversity through geologic time de
pends on the rigor and consistency by which taxa are recognized and sam
ples are identified. The main goal of the
Neogene
Marine B
iota of
Tro
pical
America (‘NMITA’)
project is to create an online biotic database (
p://nmita.geology.uiowa.edu">http://nmita.geology.uiowa.edu) containing images and syno
ptic taxonomic information that are essential to collecting and disseminating high-quality taxic data. The database consists of an inventory of taxa collected as
part of several large multi-taxa fossil sam
pling
programs designed to assess marine biodiversity in tro
pical America over the
past 25 m.y. In the first
phase of the
project, data for ∼1,300 taxa and ∼3,800 images are currently being entered into a relational database management system on an IBM RS6000 at the University of Iowa. Eleven taxonomic grou
ps are re
presented: bivalves, gastro
pods (muricids, marginellids, strombinids), bryozoans (cheilostome, cyclostome), corals (azooxanthellate, zooxanthellate), benthic foraminifers, ostracodes, fish. The lowest taxonomic rank is s
pecies (genera/subgenera in mollusks) and the highest is family. Data that are collected and dis
played on taxon
pages include: (1) taxonomic authorshi
p, synonyms, ty
pe s
pecimens, and diagnostic mor
phologic characters; (2) images of re
presentative s
pecimens and associated museum catalog and measurement data; (3) distributional information including geologic ages, stratigra
phic units, and s
patial locations; and (4) higher level classification (genera and families) and bibliogra
phic information. Illustrated glossaries of mor
phologic terms, character matrices, and identification tools are being develo
ped for corals and mollusks. Interactive geogra
phic ma
ps and stratigra
phic columns have been designed to
provide information about taxa collected at different locations.
p>