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EnglishCurator: Dr. Ana Lúcia da Costa Prudente
The MPEG Herpetological Collection has representative specimens from various amphibian and reptile groups (Amphibians, Squamata, Crocodylia and Chelonia) constituting a valuable database and indispensable source of information for taxonomic and systematic reviews, biogeographic and ecological papers, and other types of studies. This is currently the largest collection within the Amazonian region, consisting of reptiles and amphibians, principally from the Brazilian Amazon. The collection brings together 60 thousand examples, 17,000 of these being amphibians, 540 chelonians, 110 alligators, 21,500 lizards and 21,000 snakes. The collection also consists of didactic material, a collection of anatomical pieces (skulls and hemipenes) as well as other collections consisting of gonads and digestive tract content, consolidated for the purposes of supporting morphological, systematic, ecological and natural history studies. More recently, the collection and maintenance of tissue samples preserved in absolute alcohol and standard freezers has also begun, for future molecular studies.
Representation in terms of material-type is as follows: Snakes: 9 holotypes and 138 paratypes, distributed into 9 name groups; Lizards: 14 holotypes and 73 paratypes, 1 neotype, distributed into 22 name groups. Chelonians: 1 holotype – 1 name group; Amphibians: 2 holotypes, 3 paratypes, 4 neotypes, distributed into 4 name groups.
