UCM Amphibian and Reptile Collection (Arctos)

Occurrence Specimen
Latest version published by University of Colorado Museum of Natural History on Jan 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 68,396 records in English (33 MB) - Update frequency: unknown
Metadata as an EML file download in English (13 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (8 KB)

Description

Vertebrate Zoology in the CU Museum of Natural History is a biodiversity repository of more than 120,000 specimens from five taxa: Fishes, Amphibians and Reptiles (Herpetology), Birds, and Mammals.Since our specimens document changes in biodiversity over the last 200 years, they are treasures of biological and historical significance. The Herpetology collection spans 77 countries, with its geographic strength in Mexican and the southwestern United States species. It 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. The 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 our largest vertebrate 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 68,396 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)
68396
Multimedia 
28

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
Laura Russell
  • Programmer
  • VertNet Programmer
David Bloom
  • Programmer
  • VertNet Coordinator
John Wieczorek
  • Programmer
  • Information Architect
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
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 herpetology collection spans 77 countries, although its geographic strength is Mexico (more than 22,000) and the southwestern USA. There is new material from Minnesota and Haiti. Our Mexican reptile specimens have been most actively studied and cited in systematic herpetology publications over recent decades. Most recently, Julio A. Lemos-Espinal contributed 2,600 specimens from the northern Mexican states of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Coahuila.

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

Taxonomic Coverage

More than 67,000 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 1800 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