Last week, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Natural History Museum of London co-organised a three-day Taxonomython.
Hosted at the NHM, the Taxonomython focused on the identification of critical specimens from the Wellcome Sanger Institute. World-class taxonomic experts worked on critical specimens from the Wellcome Sanger Institute/UK BIOSCAN dataset. Those specimens either had no matches in the DNA reference database or needed expert verification to confirm their identifications.
The Taxonomython tackled two challenges: identifying specimens with no database matches (potentially new records for the UK) and verifying those “problematic” records where DNA barcodes had matches but needed expert confirmation.
The team of experts examined nearly 500 priority specimens and directly updated taxon resolution and accuracy for approximately 9,000 BIOSCAN records across the UK, encompassing 18 families of Diptera and one family of Hymenoptera.
These verified specimens will now contribute to improved identification accuracy for insects, advancing both fundamental taxonomy and applied biodiversity science.
The Taxonomython was made possible by funds provided by the Biodiversity Genomics Europe project, funded by the European Commission, the UK Research and Innovation Agency and the Swiss Confederation.
