Collection code Bird

MVZ Bird Collection (Arctos)

From Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California Berkeley

mvz.berkeley.edu

United States of AmericaBerkeley

185,000 specimens

About

Description

The MVZ bird collection is one of the largest in the United States. It houses over 185,000 catalogued specimens, including 174 holotype and 2 syntypes. The majority of specimens are study skins, but the collection also contains over 21,000 skeletal specimens and 3,200 fluid-preserved specimens. Other types of preparations include flat specimens (wings, skins) and body skins with skeletons ("schmoos"). Tissues, anatomical parts (e.g., syrinx, stomach contents), and parasites are routinely preserved with specimens. Many specimens also are associated with cataloged audio recordings.

Taxonomic description

The collection is taxonomically synoptic, with representatives of every Recent order of birds. For most orders there is at least 70% representation at the generic level: Aves

Geographic description

The MVZ bird collections are global. Geographic strengths are western North America from Alaska and British Columbia through southern Mexico. In addition, there are major series of specimens from Central America (especially Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica), South America (in particular, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, and Argentina), the Hawaiian Islands, the South Pacific, Australia, and Africa.

Temporal description

No information

Code

Bird

Number of specimens in collection

185,000

Online Catalog/Database

http://arctos.database.museum

Homepage

http://mvz.berkeley.edu/Bird_Collection.html

Content types

PreservedOrganisms

Accession status

Institutional

Contacts

Country

United States of America

State/Province

California

City/Town

Berkeley

Postal/Zip Code

94720-3160

Address

3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, University of California

Mailing address

Country: United States of America
State/Province: CA
City/Town: Berkeley
Postal/Zip Code: 94720-3160
Address: Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, University of California