Synthesys - FR TAF

French Taxonomic Facility (FR-TAF)

PLEASE NOTE THAT FR TAF HAS ALMOST REACHED ITS ALLOCATION OF USERS FROM SYNTHESYS PARTNER INSTITUTIONS. THERE IS A RESTRICTED CAPACITY FOR STAFF BASED IN A SYNTHESYS PARTNER INSTITUTION*, SO YOU ARE ADVISED THAT YOUR APPLICATION WILL BE A LOW PRIORITY AND IS LIKELY TO BE UNSUCCESSFUL,
*See SYNTHESYS Access homepage for list of SYNTHESYS Partner institutions

Collections | Analytical facilities | Strengths of collections | Staff expertise

FR-TAF includes six departments and 21 research teams in the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle. They are situated in different buildings located in three major areas in the centre of Paris:

FR-TAF

INSTITUTE	LOCATION
Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle	Paris, France

Jardin des Plantes:

Ichthyology Reptiles and Amphibians, Ethnobiology and the service of molecular systematics

Phanerogamy and Cryptogamy (including the National Herbarium and cultivated fungal strains); Paleontology; Geology and mineralogy (historical collection of stratigraphic fossils, reference specimens from the Paris Basin and historical collection of minerals).

Zootheque, a modern facility devoted exclusively to zoological collections. Including preparation and conditioning labs and study spaces for visiting scientists.

Buffon-Poliveau block:

Geology laboratories and marine sediment core collection

Entomology laboratory and the national insect collection

Comparative anatomy buildings with the skeleton collection

Malacology and Biology of Marine Invertebrates: laboratories and historical shell collections

Mammals and Birds

Parasitology

Mineralogy laboratory & national collection of gems, minerals and meteorites.

Zoology of Arthropods: research lab & collection (mites, spiders, scorpions, millipedes and centipedes)

Plant Biology herbarium devoted to cultivated plants and the pollen and seed bank;

Chemistry laboratory with the mass spectrometry facility

The Institut de Paléontologie Humaine

Human and Quaternary paleontology and geology. On a worldwide basis, it houses a rich osteological sampling and the Recent bone collections of the Comparative Anatomy and Mammalogy sections.

Collections & expertise
The collections of FR-TAF comprise an estimated 80 million specimens and house approximately 835,000 primary types and reference specimens of natural history. Particular strengths of the FR-TAF collections are listed in Table 2.

These collections were established on a professional scientific ground for applied and fundamental research as early as the late 18th century and have been developed to an outstanding degree during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries following the numerous investigations made in all continents (mainly in Africa and Asia) but also in all seas and oceans (through oceanographic explorations). Nowadays, the collections are still growing at a regular pace thanks to continuous research programmes developed in the FR-TAF.

Most of the collections are arranged in such way that desired specimens can easily be communicated and examined. Some of the collections (e.g. Fish) are entirely digitised, the others only in part (herbarium, entomology, minerals). The main strength is the number of types and the historical collections that are crucial for the modern taxonomist - notably in investigations concerning the biodiversity changes during the last three centuries.

The scientists working at FR-TAF possess expert knowledge in a vast array of zoological, botanical and geological disciplines. In many cases they are world-leading experts in their fields and/or represent unique or rare expertise in Europe (see Table 3).

MNHN houses a national library devoted exclusively to natural history with online catalogue and access to major bibliographic databases.

Supporting analytical facilities
In addition to the specimens themselves, the MNHN houses state-of-the-art equipment, some of it unique in European museums; for example the karyotyping FISH (Fluorescence In Situ Hybridisation) imaging workstations, mass spectrometry and RMN laboratories for natural products identification and an up-to-date morphometric laboratory.

List of facilities (Excel)

Some particular strengths of FR-TAF collections

Ca. 835,000 type specimens, including many old, frequently requested types, e.g.

- Early herbaria from Tournefort, Jussieu, Adanson etc.

From the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries:

- Types and figured specimens of fossils by Cuvier, Agassiz

- Reference collection of primary type of microfossils by D'Orbigny

- Molluscs and plants by Lamarck

- The early collections of animals and plants made during the explorations of the Pacific Ocean in the nineteenth century (Western Australia)

An extensive comparative anatomy collection of birds and mammals

Palaearctic, Asiatic & African collections: with special emphasis on deep sea faunas (molluscs, annelids, bryozoans) from oceanic vents; micro-mammals; reptiles, insects & plants (especially from Madagascar); South-East Asian amphibians (Laos & Vietnam); herbarium with special emphasis on tropical floras (Africa, Madagascar, South-East Asia, Caribbean and South America)

First entomological collection in Europe (40 million specimens) with special strength in:

- Coleoptera; Hemiptera Orthopteroidea; Collembola; Spiders; Crustacea

A cryopreserved collection of animal tissues and collections for DNA analysis

Extensive fossil collection

- Paleozoic early vertebrates from Spitzbergen and Morocco

- Mesozoic Mammals

- Fish fossils from France, North Africa, Middle East Asia and Madagascar;

- Mammals from France, Europe (Greece, Germany), Turkey and North Africa

- Quaternary faunas from France with palaeoanthropological remains

- All important fossils recently found in France

- Reference collections of Radiolarians, Coccoliths and nannofossils

- A unique collection of frozen oceanic deep sea cores (from the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans) for varied geologic analysis

Animal and plants from French Guiana, New Caledonia and the French Antilles

Type and historical specimens of minerals with the original Hauÿ and Rome de L'Isle specimens used to define the laws of crystallography

Culture collection of living ascomycetes

Examples of unique / rare expertise

Millipedes, spiders, terrestrial and marine gastropod molluscs, bryozoans, fulgoromorph, hemiptera, cicadas, orthoptera, non-insect hexapoda, mites, copepods, soil and cave microarthropods, pinworms, micromammals, anurans, snakes, percomorph fish, deep sea invertebrates, annelids, bryophytes as pollution bioindicators, tropical russulaceae fungi, ascomycetes and deuteromycetes

Toxic microalga; Convolvulaceae; Anonaceae; Leguminosae, Mimosaceae; Aristolochiaceae; Graminae, Gentianaceae, Monimiaceae; Elaeocarpaceae; Apocynaceae; Malagasy flora; Guiana flora, West African Floras.

Fossil agnathans, placoderms, proboscidians, South American marsupials, dinosaurs, marine reptiles, fossil chelonia, fossil insects, foraminifers, radiolarians, ancient DNA, fossil hominids, meteorites, gems.