Official address:
University of California
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
3101 Valley Life Sciences Building
Berkeley, CA 94720-3160
USA
Phone: (510) 642-3567
Fax: (510) 643-8238
Contact
Internet Web-site
Access to :
MWZ Data base
James L. Patton, Professor Emeritus
Curator of Mammals
Systematics and evolution of mammals, particularly geomyid rodents and neotropical marsupials and rodents
Phone: (510) 643-7712
[email protected]
Eileen A. Lacey, Asst. Professor
Assistant Curator of Mammals
Behavioral ecology, population and evolutionary biology of mammals, particularly rodents.
Phone: (510) 643-0284
[email protected]
Christopher J. Conroy, Ph.D.
Curatorial and Research Associate
Systematics and biogeography of rodents, particularly voles and lemmings.
Phone: (510) 643-7709
[email protected]
The collections of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology are accessible by apointment only. Access is granted to research scientists, graduate students, and other visitors with a scientific interest in the collections. There are no public exhibits or tours.
The MVZ collections form the core of the Museum's research, conservation, and education programs. The specimen collections, which number approximately 625,000, constitute a unique, permanent record of the past and present distributions of many terrestrial vertebrate species. Taxonomic and geographic representation of specimens reflects current and past research interests of the Museum's faculty, staff, and students. The historic emphasis on collecting series of specimens that serve as the bases for studies in evolution, morphology, behavior, ecology, and population genetics continues to the present.
The Museum also houses a collection of ca. 50,000 tissue samples for use in molecular analyses. The majority of these were taken in conjunction with voucher specimens which can be referred to for verification of results.
The MVZ mammal collection is the third largest in the United States and the largest such collection associated with an academic institution in this country. It contains approximately 196,000 skin, skull and fluid-preserved specimens. In addition to overall size, the collection ranks fourth in the number of primary type specimens it contains, with 347.
The collection is synoptic in coverage. It includes representatives of 25 of the 26 currently recognized orders, almost 60% of families, and more than 50% of the genera of Recent mammals. Rodents and bats are especially well-represented. Geographic coverage is worldwide, but strongest for western North America, i.e., the U.S. including Alaska, western Canada, and northwestern Mexico. Large and significant collections are present from Central America, South America, Southeast Asia, and Australasia.
Karyotype (chromosome) preparations are available for ca. 4,000 rodent specimens. Envelopes contain one to six slides per specimen and some are accompanied by black and white photos of chromosome spreads.
Its collection of marmots consists of 405 specimens representing 8 identified species of Marmots of the World.
Data obtained by courtesy of Internet.
Marmot collection mainly consists of skulls, skeletons and skins.