To whom it may concern:
Please consider this as a Memorandum of Understanding on the retention of specimens between the Entomology Collection (ECOSC-E) of El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), the Principle Investigators of the LLAMA Project, and the LLAMA Non-focal Taxonomic Collaborators.
The explicit goals of this collaboration for ECOSUR are to have the Mexican arthropod fauna identified or described to the greatest extent possible, to retain holotypes as a part of the Mexican national heritage, and to provide their national collections with broad, representative, and expertly determined specimens. The explicit goal of the LLAMA Project is to maximize the scientific value and output of their efforts by having as much material as possible prepared and available for use by the broadest scientific community possible. The Non-focal Taxonomic Collaborators propose to facilitate the achievement of these goals by acting as a preparation, data capture and distribution hub of non-focal taxa with the explicit goal of increasing the breadth and depth of their respective collections.
With the purpose of promoting these goals, ECOSUR is disposed to lend and authorize the retention of specimens to the LLAMA Taxonomic Collaborators under the following guidelines:
Significant series (>10 specimens, if possible) of all taxa generated by the LLAMA Project will be mounted, labeled, and data based by the Taxonomic Collaborators.
Subsequently, the fully prepared material will be sorted to morphospecies by the Taxonomic Collaborators and a subset of each morphospecies will be reserved for eventual repatriation to ECOSUR in the following manner:
When sexes are visibly distinct, separate forms will be treated the same as distinct morphospecies
These specimens will be individually noted in the data base to the effect of: "Property of ECOSUR; to be returned upon determination or description". It is recommended, but not required, that these specimens also be visually identifiable as ECOSUR property by the use of color-marked bar codes, secondary labels, or the like.
All specimens so reserved remain the property of ECOSUR and are considered on long-term loan, to be returned upon determination to species or description, or at the request of ECOSUR, whichever comes first.
All specimens not labeled according to the above scheme will become property of the Taxonomic Collaborators to be accessioned, deaccessioned, and distributed to third parties at their discretion.
Any remaining specimen residues will remain the property of ECOSUR and will be returned upon request.
The following additional conditions apply: The specimens generated by the LLAMA Project cannot be totally or partially commercialized or used in commercial research.
Holotypes of newly described species, whether or not originally labeled as Property of ECOSUR shall be returned to El Colegio de la Frontera Sur.
The Taxonomic Collaborators reserve the right to permanently retain one paratype of each species described, should they exist, whether or not originally labeled as Property of ECOSUR. The deposition of additional paratypes shall be negotiated on a case by case basis with the intent of allowing third parties to retain a subset of paratypes for their efforts.
Any publications resulting from the use of ECOSUR material should be sent to ECOSUR and the Taxonomic Collaborators as either hardcopy or pdf.