UCM Amphibian and Reptile Collection (Arctos)

Occurrence Specimen
Latest version published by University of Colorado Museum of Natural History on Jun 5, 2025 University of Colorado Museum of Natural History

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 68,464 records in English (14 MB) - Update frequency: daily
Metadata as an EML file download in English (12 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (8 KB)

Description

The UCM Herpetology collection spans 81 countries, with its geographic strength in taxa from Colorado, Mexico and the southwestern United States. The collection contains over 68,000 specimens, including over 22,000 from Mexico, which have been actively studied and cited in systematic herpetology publications over recent decades. Additionally, the whiptail lizards (genus <i>Aspidoscelis</i>) are particularly well represented, including over 12,000 fluid-preserved specimens and two hundred dry skulls. World-renowned herpetologists, Hobart M. Smith and T. Paul Maslin, as well as a number of their students and collaborators, were the major architects of this collection. R. Earl Olson's contribution of 3,800+ specimens recently expanded our taxonomic and geographic coverage, including new material from Minnesota and Haiti. Most recently, Julio A. Lemos-Espinal contributed 2,600 specimens from the northern Mexican states of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Coahuila.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 68,464 records.

1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

Occurrence (core)
68464
Multimedia 
2754

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

University of Colorado Museum of Natural History Amphibians and Reptiles Collection

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 8935e64a-f762-11e1-a439-00145eb45e9a.  University of Colorado Museum of Natural History publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF-US.

Keywords

Occurrence; Specimen; Occurrence

Contacts

Emily Braker
  • Metadata Provider
  • Originator
  • Point Of Contact
  • Vertebrate Zoology Collections Manager
University of Colorado Museum of Natural History
  • UCB 265
80309 Boulder
CO
US
  • 303-492-8466
David Bloom
  • Programmer
  • VertNet Coordinator
Dusty McDonald
  • Point Of Contact
  • Arctos Database Programmer
University of Alaska Museum
Christy McCain
  • Curator
  • Vertebrate Zoology Curator
University of Colorado Museum of Natural History
  • UCB 265
80309 Boulder
CO
US
  • 303-735-1016

Geographic Coverage

The UCM Herpetology collection spans 81 countries, with geographic strength in Colorado, Mexico, and the southwestern United States.

Bounding Coordinates South West [-90, -180], North East [90, 180]

Taxonomic Coverage

Holdings include more than 68,000 specimens. The whiptail lizards (genus Aspidoscelis) are particularly well represented. 342+ type specimens (16 holotypes & 326+ paratypes).

Class Amphibia (amphibians), Reptilia (reptiles)

Temporal Coverage

Living Time Period 1889 to present

Additional Metadata

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

Alternative Identifiers 8935e64a-f762-11e1-a439-00145eb45e9a
https://ipt.vertnet.org/resource?r=ucm_herps