Title: Airyscan confocal superresolution images of extant Malvaceae pollen with a focus on Bombacoideae

Authors: Surangi W. Punyasena, Ingrid Romero, Michael A. Urban

Subject: Biological sciences

Keywords: Malvaceae; superresolution microscopy; Zeiss; Bombacacidites; Neotropics; CZI

Funder: NSF-DBI Advances in Bioinformatics (NSF-DBI-1262561)

Corresponding Creator: Surangi W. Punyasena

This dataset includes a total of 430 images of extant specimens of the Malvaceae, with a focus on species that are or have been included within the subfamily Bombacoideae. There are 27 genera included within 26 folders. Each folder is named by genus and contains all the images that correspond to that genus. Note that the genus _Matisia_ is included with _Quararibea_ as detailed in the metadata READ ME file.

The specimens imaged are from the palynological collections of the Swedish Museum of Natural History and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and herbarium specimens from the Smithsonian Herbarium National Museum.

The optical superresolution microscopy images were taken using a Zeiss LSM 880 with Airyscan at 630X magnification (63x/NA 1.4 oil DIC). The images are in the original CZI file format. They can be opened using Zeiss propriety software (Zen, Zen lite) or in ImageJ/FIJI. More information on how to open CZI files can be found here: [https://www.zeiss.com/microscopy/en/products/software/zeiss-zen/czi-image-file-format.html]

Image metadata and file organization are described in the CSV file "METADATA_Malvaceae_Bombacoideae_modern-species.csv". The column headings are:

Folder The folder in which the image file is found
Subfamily The current subfamily determination based on the literature. Note that _Pentaplaris_ and _Septotheca_ have not been assigned a subfamily.
Genus Genus name
Species Species name
Accepted name Accepted species name, updated from the literature
Slide name Species name as denoted on the herbarium slide
Collection Source of the herbarium slide: Sweden National Museum of Natural History or the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
File name File name using the species name denoted on the herbarium slide
Slide ID/Herbarium ID Specimen collection number

Please cite this dataset as:

Punyasena, Surangi W.; Romero, Ingrid; Urban, Michael A. (2025): Airyscan confocal superresolution images of extant Malvaceae pollen with a focus on Bombacoideae. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. https://doi.org/10.13012/B2IDB-2968712_V1