ZOOLOGY DATABASES & RESEARCH TOOLS
The Zoology Section has databased 99% of the specimen records across all invertebrate and vertebrate collections, and has retrospectively georeferenced* most specimens, especially those in Colorado and in other Rocky Mountain and Plains states.Our specimen records are available through several online portals providing access to museum specimen records. For MaNIS and HerpNet, you may choose the University of Colorado Museum (UCM) as a provider and search our collections specifically.
- MaNIS - Mammals
- HerpNet - Reptiles and amphibians
- VertNet - Birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles
- GBIF - All collections (Data Provider page)
With support from the National Science Foundation, we have also developed a mapping portal to search for specimens across our collections (including invertebrates, fishes, birds, etc.) and to retrieve maps showing the locations of those specimens. We have also been involved in an international consortium for creating tools for georeferencing biodiversity data as part of the Biogeomancer project.
Inquiries regarding the database and research tools we have developed should be sent to curator Robert Guralnick or collections manager Mariko Kageyama.
*Retrospective georeferencing is the process of assigning computer-readable coordinates (eg. latitude and longitude) to a specimen record based on the original text-based locality description.
