The echinoderm collection (IE) of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN - Paris) in the southwest Pacific region

This dataset is a subset of the echinoderm collection of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN - Paris) extracted from GBIF and filtered for the southwest Pacific region and for marine species only.
The aim of the full dataset is to provide a general view of the echinoderm collection of the Paris Museum, which is primarily a scientific collection. The naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, one of the founders of the Theory of Evolution, was the first to really establish the collection of echinoderms at the Paris Museum. There are both dry and alcohol-preserved lots. Some sea cucumber specimens are preserved as microscopic preparations on slides. The number of lots is estimated at 500,000, of which 0.4% are types. Echinoderms have been collected in all oceans, at all latitudes. The largest numbers of specimens were collected relatively recently in the Indo-West Pacific. Echinoderms live exclusively in marine waters and at all depths. For 25 years intensive research programs have permitted huge collections to be obtained, especially from the Indo-Pacific and Antarctic regions. Most of the data entered so far are from these regions.

本数据集为从全球生物多样性信息设施（GBIF）提取的法国国家自然历史博物馆（Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle，简称MNHN-巴黎）棘皮动物馆藏子集，经筛选仅保留西南太平洋海域的海洋物种。
完整数据集旨在全面呈现巴黎自然历史博物馆的棘皮动物馆藏——该馆藏本质上为科研专用标本集。博物学家让-巴蒂斯特·拉马克（Jean-Baptiste Lamarck）作为进化论奠基人之一，是首位真正在该馆构建棘皮动物馆藏体系的学者。馆藏包含干燥标本与酒精浸泡标本两类，部分海参标本以玻片显微制片形式保存。馆藏总批次约为50万，其中0.4%为模式标本。该馆藏的棘皮动物标本采自全球所有大洋、各纬度区域，其中印度-西太平洋（Indo-West Pacific）海域的标本采集量最为庞大，且多为近年所获。棘皮动物仅栖息于海洋水域，且分布于所有水深区间。近25年来，通过一系列高强度研究项目，科研人员获取了海量标本，尤其集中于印度-西太平洋（Indo-West Pacific）与南极海域，截至目前录入的大部分数据均来自这两个区域。