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Natural history collections are essential to a wide variety of studies in biology because they maintain large collections of specimens and associated data, including genetic material (e.g., tissues) for DNA sequence data, yet they are currently under-funded and collection staff have high workloads. With the advent of aggregate databases and advances in sequencing technologies, there is an increased demand on collection staff for access to tissue samples and associated data. Scientists are rapidly developing large DNA barcode libraries, DNA sequences of specific genes for species across the tree of life, in order to document and conserve biodiversity. In doing so, mistakes are made. For instance, inconsistent taxonomic information is commonly taken from different lending institutions and deposited in data repositories, such as the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) and GenBank, despite explicit disclaimers regarding the need for taxonomic verification by the lending institutions. Such errors can have profound effects on subsequent research based on these mis-labelled sequences in data repositories. Here, we present the production of a large DNA barcode library of reptiles from the National Museum of Natural History tissue holdings. The library contains 2,758 sequences (2,205 COI and 553 16S) from 2260 specimens (four crocodilians, 37 turtles, and 2,219 lizards, including snakes), representing 583 named species, from 52 countries. In generating this library, we noticed several common mistakes made by scientists depositing DNA barcode data in public repositories (e.g., BOLD and GenBank). Our goal is to raise awareness of these concerns and offer advice to avoid such mistakes in the future to maintain accurate DNA barcode libraries to properly document Earth’s biodiversity.

Leptophis santamartensis, known only from Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, is one of the more poorly known species of the genus Leptophis. The characters used for its diagnosis largely overlap with those of other Leptophis, mainly with Leptophis ahaetulla occidentalis, the only other Leptophis known to occur in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. A detailed comparison of L. a. occidentalis with the two known specimens of L. santamartensis leads to the conclusion that the latter should be relegated to the synonymy of the former.

Turtles in Lake Blackshear, Crisp County, Georgia (USA) were evaluated for shell disease during intensive trapping efforts on 8 and 9 May 1990. The disease was most prevalent in Pseudemys concinna (74%) and Trachemys scripta (35%). The degree of necrosis on the carapace was significantly positively correlated with the degree of necrosis on the plastron in T. scripta (rs = 0.50), but not in P. concinna (rs = 0.06). Female T. scripta with lesions were significantly larger than females without lesions. Lesions were not detected on six other species of turtles. Some areas contained multinucleate osteoclasts that were destroying bone. No tumors were detected in soft tissue samples.

The Chinese coin turtle Chinemys reevesii is widely distributed in eastern Asia from Japan to southern China. Within its range, three taxa have been described which are similar to C. reevesii except for minor differences (Geoclemys grangeri, Geoclemys paracaretta, and Damonia unicolor). Although these variants have been synonymized by some authors, no quantitative studies have been conducted to support or reject their validity. The present study examined 31 characters of specimens throughout the range. Analysis indicates that all variants are within the diagnostic extremes observed in this species. Low interpopulational variation in C. reevesii is due in part to several millennia of human disturbance.