Computerization of the Herpetology Collection at the Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection

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The aim of this project is to computerize 69,000+ catalogued specimens in the Division of Amphibians and Reptiles, Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection (TCWC), and disseminate information on holdings via the WWW and the Combined Herpetological Collections Database the Division of Amphibians and Reptiles at Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection houses 80,000 individually numbered specimens from throughout the world, with exceptionally strong collections from Texas, Mexico, and the Neotropics. The collection's size ranks high among university-based collections lacking stand-alone museums. It is the largest collections of Texas herps by far, with more than 45,000 catalogued specimens from all areas of the states. Holdings from Mexico and Latin America are extensive, and make up about 50% of the collection. Areas of taxonomic strength include Teiid lizards,Phrynosomatid lizards, and snakes. The collection contains representative of 93% of amphibian and reptile families, 42% of existing genera, and 22% of existing herptile species. The collection houses 37 holotypes and 868 paratypes. The growth rate is 2,200 specimens/year over the last five years and compares well with any herpetological collection. One of the most important outcomes of this project will be a searchable database of holdings on the TCWC web page. The page will print searches to the level of county by species. Data files will also be forwarded to the Combined Herpetological Collections Data Base, maintained at the California Academy of Sciences. Use of the collection will increase significantly after computerization and dissemination of our holdings.