Mapping the collection: visualising locality data for myriapods in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

Locality data for the Myriapoda (Diplopoda, Chilopoda, Pauropoda, and Symphyla) deposited in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin were mapped with the principal aim of highlighting areas of historical collecting activity. Data from 15,648 individual lots yielded 2,366 localities for which meaningful geographical coordinates could be determined. Most records are from Germany and Central Europe extending into the Balkans, with intensive sampling of Alpine regions. The second largest source of data is Africa, especially South Africa and the former German colonies. This is followed by Asia, particularly Indonesia, and Oceania, with notable concentrations in another former German colony in Papua New Guinea and in south-western Australia. The Americas were less heavily sampled, at least in terms of georeferenced localities. The results are placed in a historical context, with remarks on notable collectors and/or collecting trips, and some of the prospects and challenges for using these data are discussed.