UAZ Herpetology Collection

Melanie Bucci

doi:10.15468/rqnb5a

UAZ Herpetology Collection

Citation

Bucci M (2022). UAZ Herpetology Collection. University of Arizona Museum of Natural History. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/rqnb5a accessed via GBIF.org on 2025-07-08.

Description

The current collection has approximately 58,000 specimens and is part of the University of Arizona Natural History Museum in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. The collection is managed by Melanie Bucci under the direction of Dr. Peter Reinthal and faculty curator, Dr. John Wiens. The holdings for this Legacy Collection are international in scope, spanning forty-six countries from six continents, and include material from forty-six U.S. states and territories, as well as thirty Mexican states. Other regions with coverage include Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Malaysia, and the Middle East. The principal strength of this collection, however, resides in extensive holdings from the Southwestern United States, and Northern Mexico. Approximently 70% of our specimens are from the States of Arizona, USA and Sonora, Mexico, making this assemblage one of the premiere regional collections in the country, and the single most important herpetological collection covering this extremely diverse and important biological realm.

Additional info

http://vertnet.org/resources/norms.html

Taxonomic Coverages

At present, approximately 240 species of amphibians from 3 Orders, 24 Families, and 66 Genera, as well as 637 species of reptiles from 3 Orders, 35 Families, and 258 Genera are represented. Taxonomically, the collection has several important strengths. The collection possesses one of the largest and most diverse assemblages of the Teiid genus Cnemidophorus (Aspidoscelis in part) available with 8,860 specimens distributed in 35 species. Our holdings of the Family Xantusiidae demonstrate another strength, where 11 species are represented by over 1,200 specimens. Several other “southwestern specialties” such as the Viperid genus Crotalus (20 species, 2078 specimens), the Colubrid genera Phyllorhynchus (2 species, 479 specimens), Thamnophis (18 species, 1443 specimens), Salvadora (5 species, 578 specimens), and Chionactis (2 species, 314 specimens), as well as the Iguanid genera Urosaurus 6 species, 2628 specimens), Phrynosoma (12 species, 1950 specimens), Sauromalus (4 species, 345 specimens), and Sceloporus (44 species, 5738 specimens) are very well represented. This collection is also well known for its holdings of the genus Heloderma , with 25 H. horridum and 257 H. suspectum.

Amphibia
rank: class
Reptilia
rank: class

Geographic Coverages

Global

Bibliographic Citations

Contacts

Melanie Bucci
originator
position: Collection Manager
University of Arizona Museum of Natural History
Rm. 310 Bioscience West, The University of Arizona
Tucson
85721
Arizona
US
email: mebucci@arizona.edu
homepage: http://uacollections.com

Melanie Bucci
metadata author
position: Collection Manager
University of Arizona Museum of Natural History
Rm. 310 Bioscience West, The University of Arizona
Tucson
85721
Arizona
US
email: mebucci@arizona.edu
homepage: http://uacollection.com

Peter Reinthal
curator
position: Curator
University of Arizona Museum of Natural History
Rm. 310, BioSciences West, The University of Arizona
Tucson
85721
AZ
US
Telephone: (520) 621-7518
email: pnr@arizona.edu
homepage: http://uacollections.com

David Bloom
programmer
position: Coordinator
VertNet
email: dbloom@vertnet.org
homepage: http://www.vertnet.org

John Wieczorek
programmer
position: Information Architect
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley
email: tuco@berkeley.edu

Melanie Bucci
administrative point of contact
position: Collection Manager
University of Arizona Museum of Natural History
Rm. 310 Bioscience West, The University of Arizona
Tucson
85721
Arizona
US
email: mebucci@arizona.edu
homepage: http://uacollections.com