AMNH Mammal Collections
Citation
Trombone T (2016). AMNH Mammal Collections. American Museum of Natural History. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/wu3poe accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-26.Description
Founded in 1869, the AMNH mammal collections are among the oldest in the museum. Today, the Department of Mammalogy houses over 275,000 specimens, making it the third largest collection of recent mammals in the world. The scientific mission of the Department of Mammalogy is to describe the diversity of living and recently extinct mammals and to explore the mechanisms responsible for their evolution and extinction. In fulfillment of this objective, the department collects, archives and studies specimens of recent mammals and the data associated with those specimens. We aim always to provide the highest standards of curatorial care and to promote access to the collections by other scholars. The collections are visited by an average of 130 researchers every year, and the Department loans over 500 specimens a year to researchers around the globe. The Recent Mammals Collection, together with the remarkable collection of books, journals, and manuscripts of the Department Library and Archives provides scholars with outstanding resources for research in mammalian systematics, biodiversity and evolutionary biology.Taxonomic Coverages
Taxonomic coverage is particularly broad (100% of the 26 mammalian orders; 96% of the 136 families; about 50% of the 1,135 genera and about 60% of the 4,629 species), and the collection contains over 1,200 name-bearing type specimens. The collections of marsupials, insectivores, bats, primates, rodents, carnivores, whales and ungulates are recognized as being among the best in the world.
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Mammaliacommon name: mammals rank: class
Geographic Coverages
The scope of the collections is worldwide, with areas of particular strength including Australia and New Guinea (30,000 specimens), Central Asia (12,000 specimens), Central Africa (30,000 specimens), and South America (50,000 specimens). Today, the Department draws on these collections to support active research programs on mammalian diversity and evolution in groups such as bats, marsupials, and rodents from a wide range of countries including the Central African Republic, French Guiana, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, and Vietnam.
Bibliographic Citations
Contacts
Tom Tromboneoriginator
position: Data Manager
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York
10024
NY
US
Telephone: +01 212-313-7783
email: trombone@amnh.org
homepage: http://www.amnh.org/
Tom Trombone
metadata author
position: Data Manager
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York
10024
NY
US
Telephone: +01 212-313-7783
email: trombone@amnh.org
homepage: http://www.amnh.org/
David Bloom
programmer
position: VertNet Programmer
VertNet
email: dbloom@vertnet.org
homepage: http://www.vertnet.org
David Bloom
programmer
position: VertNet Coordinator
VertNet
email: dbloom@vertnet.org
homepage: http://www.vertnet.org
John Wieczorek
programmer
position: Information Architect
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley
email: tuco@berkeley.edu
Tom Trombone
administrative point of contact
position: Data Manager
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York
10024
NY
US
Telephone: +01 212-313-7783
email: trombone@amnh.org
homepage: http://www.amnh.org/