UNM Earth Sciences Collection (Arctos)

Occurrence Specimen
Latest version published by University of New Mexico Paleontology Collections (UNMP) on Oct 5, 2025 University of New Mexico Paleontology Collections (UNMP)
Home:
http://paleo.unm.edu/
Publication date:
October 5, 2025
License:
CC0 1.0

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 1,560 records in English (406 KB) - Update frequency: monthly
Metadata as an EML file download in English (13 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (9 KB)

Description

The University of New Mexico Earth Science Collections includes a variety of paleobiological, rock, and mineral specimens. The paleobiology collection (UNMP) includes over 25,000 specimens, primarily of marine invertebrate and terrestrial plant fossils. The collection spans the entire Phanerozoic Eon and the geographic scope is global, with an emphasis on specimens from New Mexico and the surrounding region. Many of these regional specimens are not well represented in other academic or national museum collections. Flora and fauna from the Carboniferous, Permian, and Cretaceous Periods are particularly well represented. The collection also includes more than 50 type specimens of Pennsylvanian and Early Cretaceous mollusks, and Pennsylvanian insects. Preservation of specimens is primarily as body or trace fossils. The petrologic and mineral collections consist of over 20,000 specimens spanning from the Proterozoic to Modern and containing notable specimens from the Southwest region and globally. These collections include unique petrologic collections from the Harding Pegmatite Mine, NM and Chuar Group from the Grand Canyon region. Preservation of specimens is primarily as hand samples, thin sections, and rock/mineral powders. In addition to research collections, both the paleobiology and rock/mineral divisions maintain a broad teaching collection spanning all major animal phyla, and major rock and mineral groups.

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 1,560 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)
1560
Multimedia 
249

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:

Invertebrate Paleontology, Earth and Planetary Sciences (UNM EPS)

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is University of New Mexico Paleontology Collections (UNMP). 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: 2ea6a803-fcf8-4733-9171-23e3edc59624.  University of New Mexico Paleontology Collections (UNMP) publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF-US.

Keywords

Occurrence; Specimen; Occurrence

Contacts

Corinne Myers
  • Metadata Provider
  • Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology
UNM Earth and Planetary Sciences
  • University of New Mexico
87131-0001 Albuquerque
NM
US
  • (505) 277-4204
Corinne Myers
  • Metadata Provider
  • Collection Manager
UNM Earth and Planetary Sciences
  • University of New Mexico
87131-0001 Albuquerque
NM
US
  • (505) 277-4204
David Bloom
  • Programmer
  • VertNet Coordinator
VertNet
Dusty McDonald
  • Point Of Contact
  • Arctos Database Programmer
University of Alaska Museum

Geographic Coverage

The UNM Earth Science collections are global in geographic scope. The paleobiology collections are particularly strong in regional collections flora and fauna from the Cretaceous and Carboniferous deposits in the southwestern US.

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

Taxonomic Coverage

The UNM paleobiology collections are taxonomically broad and span all major animal phyla. Particular strengths include Paleozoic (~ 50% of specimens) and Mesozoic (~ 20%) mollusks (especially bivalves), arthropods, and brachiopods. The collection is also taxonomically diverse in flora from Carboniferous lagerstätten in North America.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Porifera (Sponges), Cnidaria (Coral), Bryozoa (Bryozoans), Brachiopoda (Brachiopods, Lampshells), Mollusca (Ammonites, Nautilus, Bivalves, Snails), Annelida (Polychaetes), Arthropoda (Trilobites, Euryterids, Insects, Spiders, Crustaceans), Echinodermata (Sea Stars, Sea Urchins), Hemichordata (Graptolites)

Temporal Coverage

Living Time Period 1905 to Present

Additional Metadata

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

Alternative Identifiers 2ea6a803-fcf8-4733-9171-23e3edc59624
https://ipt.vertnet.org/resource?r=unm_es