The actual physical specimen (e.g., a stuffed lizard or a dried insect) that a scientist (who describes and names a previously unknown species) must place in a museum (or other recognized repository) in order to have the right to name that newly discovered species. This “officially deposited specimen” is required for three purposes:
- So that comparisons can later be made if there is ever a doubt whether another “new” species is simply a member of this same species (and thus already named).
- So that taxonomists (who determine and keep the official scientific names by which scientists must refer to each of the world’s organisms) can name each of the newly discovered species in accordance with the complex rules of the International Codes for Nomenclature; examples of such names in this glossary are Arabidopsis thaliana, Escherichia coli, and Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
- So that patent claims for genetically engineered organisms can later be enforced.
A collection of fruit bodies from which the original concept of a species or other taxonomic group is derived.