Mammalogy Division
Currently, the mammal collection houses approximately 56,000 specimens of mammals largely from the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America. The majority of these specimens consist of skins and skeletal material prepared by standard museum procedures. Most of these specimens are represented as skins with skulls or as skeletons only; however, approximately 15 years ago, researchers affiliated with this collection began preparing many of their specimens as skins with skulls plus post-cranial material.
The TCWC mammal division also contains 284 pelts, an estimated 9,000 whole specimens preserved in alcohol, and 1,410 phalli or bacula. Twenty of the 26 currently recognized Orders of mammals and the all of the 13 Orders considered to occur in North America are represented in this collection. The largest holdings (>40% each) are for the Orders Rodentia and Chiroptera. The TCWC contains specimens of 865 species, 290 genera, and 82 families. This division holds 39 holotypes (8 species, 31 subspecies) and 556 paratypes from 40 taxa. Most material was collected within the last 55 years but some specimens date back to the early 1900s. The TCWC mammal division contains representatives of 20 species listed as "Endangered" and seven species listed as "Threatened" by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Representatives of 28 of the 47 species considered to be "Of Interest" by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department are maintained in this collection.
The mammal collection was accredited by the American Society of Mammalogists in 1975, reaccredited in 1985 and 1995, and as a division of the TCWC, has been a member of the Association of Systematics Collections since 1974. In 1987, it was considered to be the 14th largest mammal collection in North America and the 7th largest university collection.
WFSC 401 Mammalogy Lab Power Point presentations and images
