MSB Bird Collection (Arctos)

Christopher Witt

doi:10.15468/fyumof

MSB Bird Collection (Arctos)

Citation

Witt C (2023). MSB Bird Collection (Arctos). Version 35.78. Museum of Southwestern Biology. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/fyumof accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-09-24.

Description

The MSB Division of Birds maintains an extensive research collection of over 40,000 bird specimens from western North America and around the world. Taxonomic coverage consists of all avian orders and approximately 85% of avian families. The oldest specimens are from the mid-1870’s, with most collected after the 1950’s. The collection has grown about 6-fold since 1989, and it continues to grow rapidly through salvage and research-driven collecting. Approximately 40% of the specimens have frozen tissues associated with them. Collection highlights include: Synoptic series of the Birds of New Mexico for ID reference and teaching; the personal collection of Dale Zimmerman, donated in 2004, which contributed significantly to the taxonomic and geographic scope of the collection; the collection of Amadeo Rea, upon which the book Once a River was based; raptors and game birds of J.M. Campbell; the J. Stokley Ligon collections (in part); and representative threatened, endangered and extinct species of North America. All but the most recent research specimens are published online via the database Arctos.

Additional info

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

Taxonomic Coverages

The MSB bird collection is taxonomically broad, with 100% of avian orders and 85% of the bird families of the world represented.

Aves
rank: class

Geographic Coverages

The geographical strength of the MSB bird collection is the American Southwest (Texas, Arizona, New Mexico). Worldwide, the collection has important holdings from Kenya, South Africa, and Peru, including modern Andean research collections sampled from elevational transects.

Bibliographic Citations

Contacts

Christopher Witt
originator
position: Curator of Birds
Museum of Southwestern Biology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque
87131-0001
NM
US
Telephone: (505) 277-8169
email: cwitt@unm.edu
homepage: http://biology.unm.edu/Witt/

Christopher Witt
metadata author
position: Curator of Birds
Museum of Southwestern Biology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque
87131-0001
NM
US
Telephone: (505) 277-8169
email: cwitt@unm.edu
homepage: http://biology.unm.edu/Witt/

Laura Russell
programmer
position: VertNet Programmer
VertNet
email: larussell@vertnet.org

David Bloom
programmer
position: VertNet Coordinator
email: dbloom@vertnet.org

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

Dusty McDonald
point of contact
position: Arctos Database Programmer
University of Alaska Museum
email: dlmcdonald@alaska.edu
homepage: http://arctos.database.museum

Andrew Johnson
point of contact
position: Collection Manager, Birds
Museum of Southwestern Biology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque
87131-0001
NM
US
Telephone: (505) 277-1359
email: ajohnson@unm.edu
homepage: http://msb.unm.edu/birds

Christopher Witt
administrative point of contact
position: Curator of Birds
Museum of Southwestern Biology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque
87131-0001
NM
US
Telephone: (505) 277-8169
email: cwitt@unm.edu
homepage: http://biology.unm.edu/Witt/