scholarly journals THE THE FIRST DOCUMENTED PREY ITEMS FOR Bothrops medusa (STERNFELD, 1920)

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Tristan David Schramer
Keyword(s):  
Endangered Species ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Stomach Contents ◽  
Museum Specimens ◽  
University Of Illinois ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
The University ◽  
Prey Items

The Venezuelan forest pitviper (Bothrops medusa) is an endangered viperid endemic to the central range of the Cordillera de la Costa in Venezuela. Little is known regarding its natural history. We examined the stomach contents of museum specimens housed in the University of Illinois Museum of Natural History Herpetology Collection and report the first prey items for the species. The arboreal habits of both prey items support the notion that B. medusa may be semi-arboreal. This exposes the need for further studies on this rare viperid and showcases the value of natural history collections for studying endangered species.

scholarly journals NOTES ON THE DIET OF Crotalus intermedius TROSCHEL, 1865

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Tristan David Schramer ◽  
Yatin Kalki ◽  
Taylor Renae West ◽  
Daniel B. Wylie
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Stomach Contents ◽  
Museum Specimens ◽  
University Of Illinois ◽  
Diet Specialization ◽  
Dietary Breadth ◽  
The Status ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
The University ◽  
Prey Items

The Mexican small-headed rattlesnake (Crotalus intermedius) is composed of three recognized subspecies that occur disjunctly in the central and southern highlands of Mexico. Only four species-specific prey items are reported in the literature for C. intermedius at present. To gain further insights, we dissected museum specimens housed in the University of Illinois Museum of Natural History Herpetology Collection for stomach contents and report the prey items discovered. Of the 23 specimens examined, seven contained prey, all of which were lizards of the genus Sceloporus. As a result, we report two novel prey to the known dietary breadth of C. intermedius. Furthermore, our findings, in conjunction with published literature, suggest that Sceloporus spp. are the predominant food source of C. intermedius. Due to this apparent diet specialization, the status of C. intermedius likely depends heavily on the persistence of prey populations, and for this reason, improving natural history knowledge will be vital for informing conservation efforts.

scholarly journals ADDITIONAL DIET INFORMATION FOR Cerrophidion godmani (GÜNTHER, 1863) AND A DIETARY SYNOPSIS OF THE GENUS Cerrophidion CAMPBELL AND LAMAR, 1992

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Tristan David Schramer
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Stomach Contents ◽  
Southern Mexico ◽  
University Of Illinois ◽  
History Data ◽  
Taxonomic Changes ◽  
The University ◽  
Prey Items

The montane pitvipers (Cerrophidion spp.) consist of five recognized species that disjunctly occupy high elevational habitats from southern Mexico to western Panama. However, two of these species were recently delineated, leaving previously published natural history data on Cerrophidionoutdated and in need of a re-examination. To gain more information, we investigated the stomach contents of Cerrophidion specimens housed in the University of Illinois Museum of Natural History Herpetology Collection (UIMNH) and report our findings. We also compiled lists of all known prey items and present a comprehensive dietary synopsis for each species of Cerrophidion according to recent taxonomic changes. These efforts unearthed eleven previously undocumented prey items for three of the species.

scholarly journals Contribution to a Knowledge of the North American Fresh-water Ostracoda Included in the Families Cytheridae and Cyprididae

1897 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-15) ◽  
pp. 415-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Sharpe
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
North American ◽  
Illinois River ◽  
University Of Illinois ◽  
Master Of Science ◽  
Biological Station ◽  
The North ◽  
The University

The present paper has been prepared in the course of work at the University of Illinois for the degree of master of science in zoology. In addition to extensive collections of Entomostraca made at the Biological Station of the University of Illinois, situated at Havana, on the Illinois River, I have been able, through the kindness of Dr. S. A. Forbes, to examine all the accumulations in this group made by the Illinois State Laboratoryof Natural History during the last twenty years,and covering a territory little less than continental.

Tracking changes in natural history collections utilization: A case study at the Museum of Southwestern Biology at the University of New Mexico

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany L. Abrahamson
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
University Of New Mexico ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Fields Of Study ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
History Of ◽  
Data Source ◽  
History Of Use ◽  
The University

AbstractNatural history collections (NHCs) are used in many fields of study, but general knowledge regarding their uses is poor. Because of this, funding and support for NHCs frequently fluctuate. One way in which collections professionals can illustrate a collection’s contribution to a variety of fields is based on the collection’s history of use. Tracking NHC utilization through time can increase NHC value to others outside of the collection, allow for the analysis of changes in specimen-based research trends, and assist in effective collection management. This case study focuses on NHC usage records held by the Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB), a currently growing university collection used in many research fields, and presents methods for quantifying collections utilization through time. Through an exploration of these data, this paper illustrates MSB’s growth and changes in research produced over time and offers explanations for the changes observed. Last, this study provides suggestions for how collections professionals can most greatly benefit from considering NHC records as a data source. Understanding NHC usage from “the collection’s perspective” provides a new way for NHC professionals to understand NHCs’ value in the context of the research it supports and demonstrates the importance of this key infrastructure to a broader audience.

scholarly journals Diet of Odorrana chapaensis (Bourret, 1937) from Son La Province, Vietnam

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pham Van Anh ◽  
Nguyen Quang Truong ◽  
Nguyen Van Hoang
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Feeding Ecology ◽  
Stomach Contents ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Insect Larvae ◽  
Amphibian Species ◽  
Importance Index ◽  
Prey Items

Since there is currently a lack of data on the natural history and feeding ecology of Odorrana chapaensis, which was listed in the IUCN Red List (2019), we herein provided the feeding ecology of this amphibian species is virtually lacking. We herein provide data about the diet of O. chapaensis based on the results of our field work in Ngoc Chien Commune, Muong La District and Xim Vang Commune, Bac Yen District, Son La Province, Vietnam. We used the stomach-flushing method to obtain the stomach contents of 85 individuals at two survey sites. A total of 20 prey categories with 334 items, comprising 299 items of invertebrates and 35 unidentified items, were found in the stomachs of O. chapaensis. The dominant prey items of O. chapaensis were Araneae, Polydesmida, insect larvae, Blattodea, Coleoptera, Dermaptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, and Orthoptera. The importance index for these categories ranged from 3.5% to 32.5%. Coleoptera was the category with the highest frequency of prey items; its representatives were found in 45 stomaches. 

scholarly journals A List of the Insect Types in the Collections of the Illinois State Natural History Survey and the University of Illinois

1927 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-7) ◽  
pp. 138-309
Author(s):  
Theodore Frison
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
University Of Illinois ◽  
History Survey ◽  
The University

The ever-increasing requests by technical workers in the field of entomology for information concerning the insect types in the collections of the Illinois State Natural History Survey and the University of Illinois have led to the preparation of this paper.

scholarly journals Closing Gaps But Increasing Bias In North American Butterfly Inventory Completeness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaughn Shirey ◽  
Michael W. Belitz ◽  
Vijay Barve ◽  
Robert Guralnick
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Museum Specimens ◽  
Biodiversity Data ◽  
Human Footprint ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Global Change Research ◽  
Under Sampling ◽  
Community Science

AbstractAggregate biodiversity data from museum specimens and community observations have promise for macroscale ecological analyses. Despite this, many groups are under-sampled, and sampling is not homogeneous across space. Here we used butterflies, the best documented group of insects, to examine inventory completeness across North America. We separated digitally accessible butterfly records into those from natural history collections and burgeoning community science observations to determine if these data sources have differential spatio-taxonomic biases. When we combined all data, we found startling under-sampling in regions with the most dramatic trajectories of climate change and across biomes. We also found support for the hypothesis that community science observations are filling more gaps in sampling but are more biased towards areas with the highest human footprint. Finally, we found that both types of occurrences have familial-level taxonomic completeness biases, in contrast to the hypothesis of less taxonomic bias in natural history collections data. These results suggest that higher inventory completeness, driven by rapid growth of community science observations, is partially offset by higher spatio-taxonomic biases. We use the findings here to provide recommendations on how to alleviate some of these gaps in the context of prioritizing global change research.

scholarly journals A strategy to digitise natural history collections with limited resources

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joaquim Santos ◽  
Paulo Rupino da Cunha ◽  
Fátima Sales
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Digital Images ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Slow Process ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Stage Process ◽  
The University

The present work is a contribution towards accelerating the digitisation process of natural history collections, usually a slow process. A two-stage process was developed at the herbarium of the University of Coimbra: (i) a new workflow was established to automatically create records in the herbarium master database with minimum information, while capturing digital images; (ii) these records are then used to populate a web-based crowdsourcing platform where citizens are involved in the transcription of specimen labels from the digital images. This approach simplifies and accelerates databasing, reduces specimen manipulation and promotes the involvement of citizens in the scientific goals of the herbarium. The novel features of this process are: (i) the validation method of the crowdsourcing contribution that ensures quality control, enabling the data to integrate the master database directly and (ii) the field-by-field integration in the master database enables immediate corrections to any record in the catalogue.

scholarly journals Primary Insect Types in the Illinois Natural History Survey Collection, Exclusive of the Collembola and Thysanoptera

1980 ◽  
Vol 32 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 55-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald W. Webb
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Zoological Nomenclature ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
International Code ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
University Of Illinois ◽  
The Past ◽  
Illinois Natural History Survey ◽  
History Survey ◽  
The University

In 1927 T. H. Frison published a list of all the insect types in the collections of the Illinois Natural History Survey and the University of Illinois and the Bolter collection. This list contained 1,067 primary types. Type-specimens in the University of Illinois have subsequently been transferred to the collection of the Illinois Natural History Survey. In the past 50 years 2,113 primary types have been added to the Survey's collection, primarily through the systematic research of T. H. Frison in Plecoptera and Hymenoptera; H. H. Ross in Trichoptera, Plecoptera, Homoptera, and Hymenoptera; H. B. Mills in Collembola; and L. J. Stannard, Jr., in Thysanoptera. The acquisitions of the personal collections of J. W. Folsom in Collembola and C. A. Robertson in Hymenoptera added numerous primary types to the Survey's collections. In addition, several active workers have periodically, or occasionally, deposited their types in the Survey's permanent collection upon completion of specific revisionary studies. Recently, Gerdes (1977) and Mari Mutt (1978) have published lists of all of the types of Thysanoptera and Collembola, respectively, in the Natural History Survey collection. In this list only primary types currently located in or on loan from the Illinois Natural History Survey collection are listed along with the original citation for each species. The literature citation for the designation of ach neotype and lectotype is also cited. To clarify the type designation within the bees of the Robertson collection, lectotype specimens have been designated by W. E. LaBerge for those species not previously designated in the literature. The genera under which the species are listed are those under which they were originally described. Where possible the sex of each type is given. The term syntype is used in the sense of Article 73c of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1964) and replaces the term cotype used by Frison (1927). For simplicity, the within each order alphabetically, the genera are arranged alphabetically within each family, and the species are arranged alphabetically within each genus.

150 years of changing attitudes towards zoological collections in a university museum: the case of the Thomas Bell tortoise collection in the Oxford University Museum

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgosia B. Nowak-kemp
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
The Subject ◽  
University Museum ◽  
Changing Attitudes ◽  
The University ◽  
Personal Interests

Thomas Bell's collection of tortoises arrived in the Oxford University Museum in 1862 as part of the great benefaction of the Reverend F. W. Hope. The collection's fate, together with the fate of other zoological collections of the University, was closely linked with the research and personal interests of the Heads of Departments in the Museum. The whole collection was at first exhibited in the Museum's Main Court for over thirty years, followed by the removal of most of its specimens to stores, with only a small number left on display. In between, the specimens were the subject of furious custodianship claims, and only in 1956, after nearly a century in Oxford, were the tortoises finally entered in the accession catalogues of the Zoological Collections. The battles and controversies surrounding the collection reflected the changes in teaching and the approach to the natural history collections in the oldest university in the United Kingdom.

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