Loans. The University of Central Florida Collection of Arthropods (UCFC) loans specimens to qualified scientists for research purposes. Loans are typically made to institutions, but may be made to qualified persons not employed at a scientific institution on a case-by-case basis. Loans for students are made to their advisors. Loan requests should be made to the Collection Manager by U.S. mail, e-mail, or telephone (407-823-6540). Loans are made for a period of 1 year (unless otherwise stipulated) and extensions must be arranged with the Collection Manager. Primary type specimens resulting from loans must be returned by registered mail, which will be deposited in the secure type cabinet. Retention of duplicate material is permitted subject to authorization by the Curator. When the material is retained, we request information regarding the number of retained specimens, their species identification (including author information), UCFC identification numbers, and the museum codon of the institution where the specimens will be housed (if available), so that the information in the UCFC database can be adjusted accordingly. The return of all borrowed specimens is expected (unless otherwise requested) along with the placement of determination labels on each identified specimen. All UCFC material bears unique identification labels (e.g. UCFC 7-digit number), which should be retained on the specimens at all times. We request that borrowers send us the reprints of studies that use UCFC material.

Destructive sampling. Requests for destructive sampling are normally granted, but should be made when loans are made. Dissections are permitted as long as all dissected parts are retained with the specimens within appropriate housings, such as genital vials.

DNA Tissues. When UCFC material (especially, the specimens housed in the UCFC Insect Genomic Collection) is used for extracting DNA for molecular study, normal tissue dissection is permitted, such as taking muscle tissues from legs or thorax. Retention of small tissue samples is permitted subject to authorization by the Curator. We request that the remaining specimens be returned in 100% ethanol along with the GenBank accession numbers of the sequences generated using the loaned material.

Access to Digitized Collection Data. All pinned specimens deposited in UCFC have been databased at the specimen-level and these data are freely available via our online database system. When using our data we request that users properly credit the source.

Acquisition. UCFC is a regionally-focused research collection with a heavy emphasis on Central Florida fauna. To further develop this strength, we actively engage in various collecting activities in and around Central Florida to expand our holdings, our strongest holdings being Hymenoptera and Coleoptera, which we will continue to expand. Due to the specific research interests of faculty members associated with UCFC, we also plan to expand our Orthoptera and Formicidae collections. All acquisitions are made in compliance with the regulations and laws of the state of Florida, the United States, and foreign countries.

Accessions and Deaccessions. UCFC regularly accessions material in the form of tax-deductible donations. In fact, the majority of the collection’s holdings are formally accessioned material from the collection’s founder. Donations can be made using the forms provided through the UCF Foundation, but all donated specimens must have been collected legally. We do not put monetary values on specimens, but leave it up to the donor in accordance with established valuation policies normally used by insect collections. We do not deaccession our material except for the occasional retention of specimens from a large series as outlined above.

User Charges. There is no fee for scientific use of the collection and visits to UCFC for scientific research are encouraged. UCFC is also willing to consider providing material for use to commercial entities for a nominal fee.