Herpetology

The NYSM Herpetology Collection contains approximately 6,500 reptile and amphibian specimens representing nearly 200 species, consisting mainly of species that are currently, or were historically, found in New York, but also including specimens taken from throughout North America. Just under 500 of these specimens exist as skeletal or mounted preparations, with the remainder being stored in ethyl alcohol. Specimens in the collection date as far back as 1835, and include contributions from many notable zoologists, including Spencer F. Baird, Albert Hazen Wright, and Sherman Bishop, as well as many specimens collected during the watershed surveys of 1926-1939. We have begun to update the electronic catalog for this collection, which has received only sporadic curation for the past several decades, and plan to make collection information available online when this process is completed.