ABSTRACT
The sampling methods used to collect specimens have historically been determined primarily by the needs of individual research projects. The initial scientific approach to a region for which the fauna was unknown was generally a systematic survey to locate and identify as broad a sample of species as possible. This was followed by systematic surveys of small portions of the region for one of several reasons: economic importance of the area; economic importance of the fauna suspected to be in the region; unusual characteristics of the ecosystem; unusual characteristics of the taxa; or geopolitical considerations. Additional collecting followed to obtain particular taxa for specific research projects; rarely were systematic surveys repeated at later dates for an entire region.
