The mission of Bioscience Collection is to provide collections of
plants, mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, insects and mollusks
that represent the natural history of New Mexico and southwestern North
America (United States and Mexico), and to serve as a safe repository
for in-house research specimens. These collections are used for
education, research and exhibits. We also have an extensive photographic
slide collection of New Mexico plants and birds. The staff consists
of one curator, a collection manager and seven dedicated volunteers.
As of 2011, the approximate numbers of catalogued specimens in each
of the collections are as follows: Mammals 6,200, Birds 400, Arthropods
6,000, Mollusks 13,500, Reptiles and Amphibians 50, and Plants 3,100.
The majority of biological specimens are voucher specimens resulting
from research (mammals and mollusks) conducted by Museum staff. The bird
collection consists entirely of salvage specimens. Museum staff and
volunteers have collected and developed the plant collection. The insect
collection is primarily donated collections from various Museum and
non-Museum researchers. The mollusk collection consists of several
donated collections and Museum staff research collections. We also house
frozen tissue of mammals, birds and mollusks for genetic study.
There have been approximately 20 publications in peer-reviewed
journals and one NMMNH Bulletin published on specimens in the
Collection.
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