FLMNH Herpetology Collection

FLMNH Herpetology Collection

With approximately 202,000 specimens, the FLMNH herpetology collection is estimated to be the 9th largest in the USA. Its skeletal collection, with more than 11,000 disarticulated skeletons and a small number of cleared and stained specimens, is 5th largest. An average of 3,800 specimens a year are catalogued. Catalogue data on the specimens are being entered into the online Herpetology Master Database as fast as possible. Over 142,000 specimens are already in the database.

The collection contains 60 holotypes and 919 paratypes representing 176 taxa. Additional taxa are in the process of being described. FLMNH is used informally to refer to the collection; the correct abbreviation is UF.

Though worldwide in scope, the collection contains approximately 2,300 species from the Neotropics, 600 from Asia, 390 from the Nearctic, 350 from Africa, 275 from the Palearctic, and 220 from Australia/Oceania. Large holdings of land tortoises and varanid lizards resulted from Walter Auffenberg's research, and his work on the 'HERPETOLOGY OF PAKISTAN' produced the world's largest Pakistan collection. Large numbers of sea turtles came from Archie Carr and his students. Wayne King's surveys of Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guyana, assembled the largest collection of Latin American crocodilians. Sizable collections of Kinosternid turtles were donated by John Iverson (Earlham College, Richmond, IN), softshells by Peter Meylan (Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL), and Panama amphibians and reptiles by the late Howard W. Campbell (formerly USFWS, Gainesville). Samuel R. Telford, Jr., provided extensive collections from Japan, Burma, Panama, Venezuela, Tanzania, and Pakistan, and smaller numbers from Zaire, Thailand and the Philippines. Recorded vocalizations of 46 species of amphibians and 20 species of reptiles are catalogued in the museum's Bioacoustic Archives.

Amphibians and reptiles are important keystone species and indicator species. Alligator dens and gopher tortoise burrows provide vital habitat for whole communities of organisms, vertebrates and invertebrates. Amphibians, especially tadpoles, salamander larvae, and other aquatic forms, are particularly susceptible to water pollution. Frog populations are in decline in many parts of the world, apparently because of acid rain, increased ultraviolet radiation, pollution, habitat loss, and a variety of other causes. Snakes are sensitive to many pesticides and have been virtually eliminated from many areas intensively sprayed for agriculture. Alligators accumulate in their tissues some of the highest levels of mercury ever recorded in wildlife species. Alligator and turtle reproduction is negatively impacted by the estrogen-like breakdown-products of DDT and other pesticides. Habitat modification such as drainage of wetlands, even ephemeral ponds, impacts yet other reptiles and amphibians. The information contained in the FLMNH collection pertaining to systematics, faunal inventories, species distributions, voucher specimens, status of threatened and endangered species, conservation, resource management, land use issues, and related topics, are available to interested state and Federal agencies, private enterprise, researchers, and the public.

The worldwide programs of the Crocodile Specialist Group of IUCN—The World Conservation Union are coordinated out of the FLMNH in affiliation with the Division of Herpetology.

To request data on specimens or to arrange for examination of particular specimens, see Herp Collection Policies. For other information, contact the Collection Manager or the Curator:

Dr. Kenneth L. Krysko
Collection Manager
Division of Herpetology
Florida Museum of Natural History
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-7800, USA
Tel: 352 273-1945
Fax: 352 846-0287
E-mail: kenneyk (Add "@flmnh.ufl.edu" for full address)

Dr. Max A. Nickerson, Curator
Division of Herpetology
Florida Museum of Natural History
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-7800, USA
Tel: 352 273-1946
Fax: 352 846-0287
E-mail: maxn (Add "@flmnh.ufl.edu" for full address)

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