MSB Amphibian and Reptile Collection (Arctos)

Howard Snell

doi:10.15468/cbvtos

MSB Amphibian and Reptile Collection (Arctos)

Citation

Snell H, Giermakowski T (2019). MSB Amphibian and Reptile Collection (Arctos). Version 1.22. Museum of Southwestern Biology. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/cbvtos accessed via GBIF.org on 2019-08-21.

Description

The MSB Division of Amphibians and Reptiles maintains nearly 100,000 specimens, mostly from the Southwestern United States (primarily from New Mexico and surrounding states). The collection also includes substantial numbers of specimens from elsewhere in the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean region, the Galapagos Islands, and Vietnam. The division maintains representative skeletal material, a small type collection, and a collection of uncatalogued specimens for teaching purposes. Important collections in the division’s holdings are from Big Bend National Park by W.G. Degenhardt and T.L. Brown (all taxa), the Appalachian Plateau by G.B. Wilmott (salamanders), the West Indies by K.L. Jones (leptodactylid frogs), and the Delmarva Peninsula by R. Conant (all taxa). A collection of 5,000 amphibians and reptiles made by William J. Koster formed the basis of the original collection; however,a dramatic increase in holdings occurred with the arrival of William G. Degenhardt in 1960 from Texas A&M University. Through Degenhardt’s own collecting efforts and those of his students, the division grew rapidly in size during the 1960’s and 70’s. Since the late 1980’s, the division has become the primary repository for specimens collected as part of expanding research on the State’s herpetofauna by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and continues to receive collections provided by researchers from a variety of state and federal agencies. These extensive collections and the increased knowledge of New Mexico’s herpetofauna has resulted in the publication of Amphibians and Reptiles of New Mexico (1996) by W.G. Degenhardt, C.W. Painter & A.H. Price.

Sampling Description

Method steps

Additional info

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

Taxonomic Coverages

The MSB amphibian and reptile collections are taxonomically broad, covering over 60 different families of amphibians and reptiles (representing over 60% of known families), and 1100 genera (representing ~74% of all known genera world-wide). The representation is reasonably complete, with 25 families from the collection containing over 80% of all genera from within that particular family. Several families are especially well represented in numbers of specimens, including Phrynosomatidae (>14,000), Teiidae (>9000), and Colubridae (>8000) for reptiles; and Ranidae (>4300) and Bufonidae (>4000) for amphibians.

Reptilia
common name: Reptiles rank: class
Amphibia
common name: Amphibians rank: class

Geographic Coverages

The MSB amphibian and reptile collection is worldwide in scope, with particularly strong holdings from Western North America, the Galapagos Islands, and the Caribbean.

Bibliographic Citations

Contacts

Howard Snell
originator
position: Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles
Museum of Southwestern Biology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque
87131-0001
NM
US
Telephone: (505) 277-3527
email: snell@unm.edu
homepage: http://biology.unm.edu/core-faculty/snell.shtml

Tom Giermakowski
metadata author
position: Collection Manager
Museum of Southwestern Biology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque
87131-0001
NM
US
Telephone: (505) 277-5130
email: tomas@unm.edu
homepage: http://msb.unm.edu/divisions/amphibians-reptiles/index.html
userId: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1836aAkAAAAJ

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

John Wieczorek
programmer
position: Information Architect
VertNet
email: tuco@berkeley.edu
homepage: http://vertnet.org

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

Tom Giermakowski
point of contact
position: Collection Manager
Museum of Southwestern Biology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque
87131-0001
NM
US
Telephone: (505) 277-5130
email: tomas@unm.edu
homepage: http://msb.unm.edu/divisions/amphibians-reptiles/index.html
userId: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1836aAkAAAAJ

Howard Snell
administrative point of contact
position: Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles
Museum of Southwestern Biology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque
87131-0001
NM
US
Telephone: (505) 277-3527
email: snell@unm.edu
homepage: http://biology.unm.edu/core-faculty/snell.shtml