26 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 495-2469
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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MCZ MAMMAL COLLECTION
The MCZ Mammal Collection remains one of the largest historic, geographic, and taxonomically diverse university systematic collections in the world. It comprises over 85,000 voucher specimens, including 342 holotypes. Some of the oldest specimens include a Townsend’s Chipmunk collected in 1836, and a series of Red Squirrels collected in 1847 by the MCZ’s founder, Louis Agassiz. The Outram Bangs Collection, composed of specimens collected primarily from North America between 1890 and 1902, marks the beginning of our modern systematic holdings and consists of over 10,000 specimens with complete data.
Other important series include primates from Madagascar, Africa, and South America. Our most used primate series was collected by Washburn and Schultz during the Asiatic Primate Expedition of 1937, and includes body weights and measurements of several species. Additionally, our collection has a sizeable and diverse representation of postcranial material, including over 10,000 specimens acquired from the former Osteology Department at Harvard in the 1930’s.
During the past two decades, we have been proactive in continuing to add specimens to the collection, including many local, marine, zoo, and field collected mammals. We record and document as much information as possible, including all collection and locality data, body measurements, gender and reproductive condition, preserved tissues, complete skeletons, skins, embryos, parasites, notes on body condition, stomach contents, and habitat. More recent additions to the collection include: over 250 specimens from the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona (1992, 1993), 110 rodents and bats from Nicaragua (1996), 100 rodents and insectivores from Uganda (1998), and over 105 bats comprising 18 species from Costa Rica (2002). In the past few years we have been actively involved in exchanges, and additionally have received a number of donations.
Museum of Comparative Zoology, phone 617-495-3045, June 2004