specimens

Do Domestic Breeds have a place in a Museum?

Afroduck in a box

Retrieval of Afroduck, a doemstic white duck from OSU Mirror Lake © Chelsea Hothem

The recent death of a white, domestic duck with curly feathers on its head (lovingly named “Afroduck” by many OSU students) raised an interesting issue: should this specimen be archived in the tetrapods collection at the Museum of Biological Diversity (MBD)? At the MBD, we focus our research on systematic studies of organisms worldwide. Our research includes species discovery and delimitation as well as studies of the evolutionary relationships among species. Does “Afroduck” meet these criteria?

Obviously this duck was not a wild animal even though it seemed to survive on the pond for several years (though it can be questioned whether it truly was the same duck throughout that period). It was a curiosity, and isn’t that what started many natural history collections during the Renaissance? Aristocrats in Europe were proud of their cabinets of curiosities, collections of objects that could be categorized as belonging to among others natural history, geology, or archaeology. Objects that stood out seemed most worthy of collection. Our collection is witness of this based on the number of white aberrant squirrels, American Robins, Northern Cardinals, etc., that we house. These forms clearly do not reflect their natural abundances.

“Afroduck” though is not just a white form (albino or leucistic form) of its wild relative the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). It is a domestic breed, an animal that has been selected for characteristics that we humans like or can benefit from.  In Afroduck’s case it would be the curly feathers on its head. The fact that it was able to survive for some time in the wild though is proof that it still shares some genes and characteristics with its wild ancestor that enable it to find food, seek shelter and who knows maybe even breed?

Domestic species play a large role in the study of evolution. Did you know that Charles Darwin used domestic pigeons to support his theory of evolution? After he wrote the Origin of Species he  wrote  a book about The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. Though he wrote about all types of domestication he suggested that the pigeon was the greatest proof that all domestics of one species descended from one common ancestor. In his own words:

Domestic Pigeon

Domestic Pigeon © Stephanie Malinich

Domestic Pigeon

Domestic Pigeon © Stephanie Malinich

“I have been led to study domestic pigeons with particular care, because the evidence that all the domestic races have descended from one known source is far clearer than with any other anciently domesticated animal.” – Charles Darwin

In his book, he described detailed measurements from study skins of over 120 different domestic breeds. These skins were later donated to the Natural History Museum in London, UK. In 2009, those same study skins received again research attention. In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Origin of Species scientists compared the specimens that Darwin studied to living pigeon breeds today to examine any changes in artificial and natural selection. This study concluded that the same changes continue today due to artificial selection exactly as Darwin saw in his time.

How does this relate to our collections at The Ohio State University?

In the Tetrapod Collection we possess many domestic breeds to represent the evolutionary relationships of their ancestral species. We use these specimens to educate people about Darwin’s research and evolution in general. When you look at a domestic species next to their ancestor you can see the subtle similarities of how they feed, move, and more.

Here is an example of an ancestor and some of its domestic descendants:

Going back to our question, should the domestic white duck from Mirror Lake have a place in the collection? We think it should. During our annual Open House on April 23rd, 2016 you will be able to see it as an example of artificial selection, the Mallard and its domestic descendant “Afroduck”. Even though the White Crested Duck has a tuft of feathers which makes it look quite different, it descended from the Mallard. In fact, almost all domestic breeds of ducks descended from the Mallard with the exception of the Muscovy Duck which is of South American origin. Join us during our  Open House to see the White Crested Duck, “Afroduck,” next to its ancestor the Mallard and observe the similarities for yourself!

About the Author: Stephanie Malinich is the Collection Manager for the Tetrapod Collection.

Madtoms of the OSUM Fish Division

 

Why are the ‘toms mad?  Might have to do with the fact that madtoms are so small and have a hard time competing with their larger con-familials (like Bullhead Catfish and Channel Catfish) for space and food.  But connate with several other small animal species they make up for their small size with a nastily painful poison sting.  Ask any catfish aficionado, or even a neophyte; and they will tell you that they pay careful attention to the sharp spines the catfishes carry at the front of their dorsal and pectoral fins.  Whereas catfishes of the North American Ictaluridae genera other than Noturus lack the actual venom, those other genera do carry bacteria on their spines that can cause infection in the wound. The madtoms secrete their venom in a sac at the base of their pectoral spine.  When threatened the madtoms lock their pectoral spine in an erect position, causing the sac to rupture and releasing the toxin into the water.

Another character that typifies smaller animals is their habit of remaining in the shadows.  Madtom species are quite furtive, hiding under rocks and logs or in crevices including crayfish burrows.   Like other catfish genera they tend to be most active at night.  A savvy madtom collector sallies forth in the darkness with a lantern that attracts the bewhiskered nocturnals like moths to a flame.  The best time for collecting many madtom species is in the cooler months of Autumn, up through December, when they congregate en-masse out in the open.  Madtoms spawn in late spring through summer, so could it be they carry out this excursion in the colder season for the simple reason that many larger predators have moved downstream to deeper waters?

This highly cryptic group of catfishes contains several species with populations that are imperiled to varying degrees.  Some, like Ohio’s Scioto Madtom, are Extinct while many are Endangered, Threatened or Of Special Concern at the State to Federal level.  Noturus species occupy a wide array of habitats but all rely on aquatic insects for their food.  Images of a few of the madtom species vouchered in the OSUM Fish Division are posted below.

OSUM 35531 Noturus flavipinnis 1 of 1 left lateral no label

OSUM 35531 Noturus flavipinnis Yellowfin Madtom.  Several populations of this species are imperiled or extirpated.  Listed as Federally Threatened.  They were successfully reintroduced by Conservation Fisheries International in Tennessee.

OSUM 61379 Noturus munitus 1 of 90 right lateral 3

OSUM 61379 Noturus munitus Frecklebelly Madtom.  Uncommon, declining in some areas of five small, disjunct populations in Gulf Coast drainages.

Noturus flavus 103721

OSUM 103721 Noturus flavus  The Stonecat Madtom is one of the most abundant, as well as the largest madtom species in Ohio with populations across the Mississippi River and Great Lakes drainages in the U.S. and lower Canada, frequently found in faster flowing riffles but also in lakes where there is at least a moderate current.

Stonecat by UT

Noturus flavus Stonecat Madtom, photo by Uland Thomas.

Noturus insignis 50143

OSUM 50143 Noturus insignis Margined Madtom.  Another widespread species with strong populations throughout the Atlantic Slope drainages in northeastern U.S.

Margined Madtom from the Blackwater River Roanoke Drainage VA 15JUL09 by BZ

Noturus insignis Margined Madtom from Blackwater River Virginia, photo by Brian Zimmerman.

Mountain Matom from the Little Miami by UT

Noturus eleutherus Mountain Madtom, photo by Uland Thomas.  Common in some areas but one of Ohio’s State Endangered madtom species.

Noturus miurus 86131

OSUM 86131 Noturus miurus Brindled Madtom.  Relatively common as madtoms go, prefers better oxygenated waters in streams with gravel or sand, likes to hide in leaves and sticks, also inhabits rocky lakeshores.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Noturus miurus Brindled Madtom about to be released/reintroduced from my hand after a trip to Leading Creek in a cooler.

Tadpole Madtom2 from the Maumee River April 2007 by BZ

Noturus gyrinus Tadpole Madtom, photo by Brian Zimmerman.  The Tadpole Madtom occupies quieter waters with sticks and other woody debris, and tolerates muddy, silty areas better than most other madtoms.

Elegant Madtom Noturus elegans from Kentucky photo by Ben Arthur

Noturus elegans Elegant Madtom, from Russel Creek Kentucky.  Photo by Ben Arthur.  Locally common albeit only found in the Green River drainage of Kentucky.  Note the sharp barbs on the rear of the pectoral fin spine that make it particularly hard to remove catfishes from a net!

 

About the Author: Marc Kibbey is Assistant Curator of the OSU Fish Division at the Museum of Biological Diversity.

A State Treasure: Gone But Not Forgotten

Although Ohio has some 180 freshwater fish species living in the State’s lakes and streams, it is home to only one endemic species:  the Scioto Madtom, Noturus trautmani.

In November of 1943, when OSU Museum of Zoology Curator Milton Trautman captured the little catfish from his favorite locality, he recognized that it was not a form that he’d encountered during his multitudinous collecting trips.

OSUM 5914 Noturus trautmani right lateral 3 no label

 

OSUM 5914 – Noturus trautmani

 

These fish, which were later described and named in his honor, are similar to the Elegant Madtom, Noturus elegans.  A study carried out by W. Ralph Taylor (1969) recognized those similarities in describing the Scioto Madtom and placing it close to the Elegant Madtom phylogenetically (substantiated in a 2009 publication by Egge and Simons), although osteologically the two are quite different.  Icthyologists postulate that the Scioto Madtom may have speciated from an elegans population following a glaciation event.

OSUM 9575 Noturus trautmani C&S 1 with arrows pointing to anterior pectoral spine and humeral process

 

 

OSUM 9575 – Noturus trautmani – Cleared and Stained preparation.

 

 

 

Note arrows showing anterior pectoral fin spines and humeral process significantly shorter than those characters on the Noturus elegans specimen below (vertebral counts also separate the two species)

OSUM 18913 Noturus elegans head and trucnk C&S microscope shot with arrows pointing to anterior pectoral spines and humeral process

 

 

OSUM 18913 – Noturus elegans – Cleared and Stained preparation.

 

 

Although anatomical features and a unique color pattern were used to justify recognizing the Scioto madtom as a distinct species, several local fish enthusiasts have wondered whether the Scioto Madtom population were simply hybrids between the Stonecat Madtom Noturus flavus, which resembles the Scioto Madtom in coloration and in possessing a low adipose fin, and Noturus stigmosus, which has long pectoral barbs and humeral processes but strong saddle markings on its body. However, no instance of hybridization between these species has been reported, although other hybridizations are reported among madtoms.

The length of Big Darby Creek from which Milton captured almost all of what was later called the Scioto Madtom are recorded in our catalog book as 100-200’ above the State Route 104 bridge.  The first Scioto Madtom specimens collected were found in Riffle No. 3 of a series of four riffles and runs called “Trautman’s Riffle”.

Scan of drawing of Trautmans Riffle from Ohio Conservation Bulletin 1963

 

Drawing of Trautman’s Riffle from Gilfillan, Merrill C.  1963.  The Fishes of Trautman’s Riffle.  Ohio Conservation Bulletin, Vol. 27, No. 5.  pp. 22-24.

 

20140711BigDarbyCkRM3_4Trautmansriffle photo by Anthony Sasson

 

Trautman’s Riffle on Big Darby Creek upstream of State Route 104. Photo by Anthony Sasson of The Nature Conservancy.

 

 

Trautman and his successor in the OSUM Fish division, Ted Cavender, both searched extensively for populations of Scioto Madtoms outside of the type locality. These collections led to the discovery of other species of madtoms, but failed to unearth another population of Scioto Madtoms (the last one collected was in Autumn of 1957).

My introduction to Trautman’s Riffle didn’t happen until the mid-1990’s.  Although I’d spent many a day on lakes, reservoirs and rivers fishing with my grandfathers, my fishing experiences had not included seining until I took Ichthyology at OSU with Ted Cavender.

SciotoRiveratCirclevilleRiffle202EEOB626RobGaebelTedCavenderMikeSovicBenRichLeeKittle

 

Ted Cavender (center), OSUM Curator 1970-2005, with his OSU Biology of Fishes class at the Scioto River fishing access just east of the Big Darby Creek confluence, ca. 2002.

 

In the 20 years since this introduction, I have personally observed some of the riffles in the vicinity of Trautman’s Riffle moving, due to the “flashy” flooding character of the stream.  One such riffle downstream from Trautman’s Riffle headed up under the State Route 104 bridge to about 50 yards downstream, and some of the structure appears to have moved down to an area at the next major bend in the stream’s course.  Despite the dynamism of the Big Darby in this stretch, Trautman’s Riffle remains mostly intact, although it seems to have been better defined when Milton collected the Scioto Madtom back in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

The increased propensity for flooding and the increased impact of these floods in Big Darby Creek is due at least in part to anthropogenic changes to the topography of the watershed as well as to its hydrology.  Clearing of the riparian area right up to the edge of the creek removes the trees, brush and grasses that serve as a natural filter for pollutants like smothering silt loads from farm field tillage and removes tree roots that hold the upper layer of dirt and enable the stream to create undercut areas where fish hide.  A natural riparian buffer also furnishes woody debris that falls into the stream, creating more habitat and egg laying areas for fish.

Could a flooding event, other weather conditions, or impacts such as siltation of substrates from agricultural tillage, have affected the Scioto Madtom population severely enough that they were unable to propagate?  A catastrophic release of silage on Little Darby Creek in the 1980’s wiped out an otherwise healthy population of Least brook lampreys at Mechanicsburg Ohio, demonstrating the potential impact of a rare event.

Since the Scioto Madtom was only ever found in a very small population, and subsequently not found for many years, the species was listed for decades as an endangered species. Several governmental and private monitoring agencies have sampled the site and conducted exhaustive sampling of other localities in the Scioto River and other major Ohio River tributaries, especially those that focused exclusively on habitats where Madtoms could be expected.  One such effort was funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The 3-year project to sample the major Ohio River tributaries within the state for Madtoms turned up nets full of Northern Madtoms, Mountain Madtoms and Stonecat Madtoms, but unfortunately no Scioto Madtoms.  Because of the lack of results despite intensive expert searches, many suspected it was extinct. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Ohio Division of Wildlife concur, and have recently declared the Scioto Madtom extinct. This new listing notwithstanding, we can’t help but keep an eye out every time we are in suitable habitat for the elusive, endemic, endangered Scioto Madtom.

 

About the Author: Marc Kibbey is Assistant Curator of the OSU Fish Division at the Museum of Biological Diversity.

Collecting the small plants

 

When told that a herbarium is a collection of plants, most people think of flowering plants or pine trees, or perhaps even ferns. The herbarium possesses these plants, but it also has other plants – an often, overlooked group of plants, the bryophytes that include mosses, liverworts and hornworts.

An example of a bryophyte, the ribbed bog moss, Aulacomnium palustre, with stalks of propagules that will be dispersed for asexual reproduction. From a wet meadow at Waldo, Marion County, Ohio. April 21, 2006. Photo by Bob Klips.

An example of a bryophyte, the ribbed bog moss, Aulacomnium palustre, with stalks of propagules that will be dispersed for asexual reproduction. From a wet meadow at Waldo, Marion County, Ohio. April 21, 2006. Photo by Bob Klips.

Bryophytes are small. As a result, the characters that distinguish bryophytes are small, microscopically so, but the array of beauty and intricacy displayed in flowering plants also are present in bryophytes. Those researchers that study bryophytes, bryologists, are privileged to observe this vibrant world of miniature plants.

An example of the complexity and elegance of the spore-producing structures of the small-mouthed thread moss, Bryum lisae var. cuspidatum, as observed by a bryologist. Alum Creek State Park, Waldo, Marion County. April 17, 2008. Photo by Bob Klips.

An example of the complexity and elegance of the spore-producing structures of the small-mouthed thread moss, Bryum lisae var. cuspidatum, as observed by a bryologist. Alum Creek State Park, Waldo, Marion County. April 17, 2008. Photo by Bob Klips.

 

Bryophytes are small plants and often require the use of dissecting and compound microscopes to view diagnostic characters. Here, bryologist, Diane Lucas, uses the compound microscope to view the shape and size of the leaf cells of a moss.

Bryophytes are small plants and often require the use of dissecting and compound microscopes to view diagnostic characters. Here bryologist Diane Lucas uses the compound microscope to view the shape and size of the leaf cells of a moss.

A leaf of the moss, Bryum flaccidum, showing hexagonal leaf cells. Moss and liverwort leaves are only one cell layer thick, thus each individual leaf cell is easily visible, as seen here viewed with the compound microscope. The shape and size of the leaf cells are often used to distinguish moss species.

A leaf of the moss, Bryum flaccidum, showing hexagonal leaf cells. Moss and liverwort leaves are only one cell layer thick, thus each individual leaf cell is easily visible, as seen here viewed with the compound microscope. The shape and size of the leaf cells are often used to distinguish moss species.

Bryophytes often grow in places where other plants cannot grow, such as on the sides of trees or on the surface of boulders. Bryophytes are able to grow on such substrates because they are able to survive after drying to conditions equal to the water content of the surrounding environment, conditions that would cause wilting and death in other plants. Poikilohydry, this ability to dry and then re-establish growth in the presence of moisture, is a character that flowering plants have evolutionarily lost. In herbaria, the poikilohydric nature of bryophytes has been observed in some specimens that are able to grow after five, ten or twenty years dried in a herbarium.

A typical habitat of the rounded tongue moss, Anomodon minor, on limestone rock. From Duranceaux Park, Delaware County, Ohio. April 24, 2011. Photo by Bob Klips.

A typical habitat of the rounded tongue moss, Anomodon minor, on limestone rock. From Duranceaux Park, Delaware County, Ohio. April 24, 2011. Photo by Bob Klips.

Bryophyte specimens are easier to collect and to preserve compared to other plants because they do not require pressing, or mounting onto herbarium sheets. While in the field, bryophyte plants are assigned a collection number and placed into small paper bags or paper envelopes, where they are dried. In the herbarium, bryophytes are stored in envelope packets that are made from 100% cotton rag archival paper. Labels with species identification, collection location, habitat information, collection date and collector are printed onto the face of the envelope. The envelopes are stored in flat boxes specially designed to fit on the shelves of herbarium cabinets.

Bryophytes are collected in the field in paper bags or envelopes. The bag in the photo has a collection number at the top, followed by a tentative field identification and the substrate on which the moss (shown on top of bag) was collected.

Bryophytes are collected in the field in paper bags or envelopes. The bag in the photo has a collection number at the top, followed by a tentative field identification and the substrate on which the moss (shown on top of bag) was collected.

Typical information on face of a bryophyte packet, in this case, a packet of a moss from Crawford County, Ohio.

Typical information on face of a bryophyte packet, in this case, a packet of a moss from Crawford County, Ohio.

An open packet showing moss plants stored inside.

An open packet showing moss plants stored inside.

Flat boxes store bryophyte packets inside herbarium cases.

Flat boxes store bryophyte packets inside herbarium cases.

A herbarium case with two rows of boxes that contain packets of bryophyte specimens.

A herbarium case with two rows of boxes that contain packets of bryophyte specimens.

The Ohio State University Herbarium contains over 10,000 specimens of bryophytes – a bryologist’s delight.

From a bryologist's point of view - delighting in the world of small plants: the moss, Fissidens subbasilaris, with stalks subtended by oblong sporangia that contain spores. From Christmas Rocks State Nature Preserve, Fairfield County, Ohio. September 7, 2014. Photo by Bob Klips.

From a bryologist’s point of view – delighting in the world of small plants: the moss, Fissidens subbasilaris, with stalks subtended by oblong sporangia that contain spores. From Christmas Rocks State Nature Preserve, Fairfield County, Ohio. September 7, 2014. Photo by Bob Klips.

 

 

About the Author: Dr. Cynthia Dassler is Curator of Cryptogams (small plants that produce spores) at The Ohio State Herbarium (OS) in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology.

Museum specimens going online

 

Skipper butterflies (Erynnis martiallis) are some of the specimens being digitized and imaged at the Triplehorn Insect Collection

Skipper butterflies (Erynnis martiallis) are some of the specimens being digitized and imaged at the Triplehorn Insect Collection

We open the doors to our collections once a year for the Museum Open House and thousands of people from all over the state and beyond stream through our building to marvel over our specimens. Many of them express interest in re-visiting soon.

How amazing would it be to allow people access to our specimens every day at any time? With easy access to the World Wide Web it is possible and natural history museums are digitizing their collections and making their specimens freely available online.

Digitization of plant specimens in the OSU Herbarium.

Digitization of plant specimens in the OSU Herbarium.

Curatorial staff take high quality, ideally 3-D images of each specimen, add metadata and upload them to an online database. This process is labor- and time-intensive, but well worth the effort.

You can read about Museum Specimens Find(ing) New Life Online in this recent New York Times article (10/20/2105.)  And please stay tuned to learn more about specific digitizing efforts going on right here in the collections housed at the OSU Museum of Biological Diversity.

 

About the authors: Angelika Nelson (Borror Lab of Bioacoustics) & Luciana Musetti (Triplehorn Insect Collection) collaborated on this post.

Going where the wasps are.

 

On the previous post we talked a bit about visits to the Museum of Biological Diversity and more specifically to the Triplehorn Insect Collection. Today I want to turn around and show you what we see & do when we put our ‘research scientist‘ hats and go visit other collections.

There’s no walk-ins when it comes to visiting research collections. Setting up an appointment with the curator or collection manager is a must. That allows the staff to prepare for our visit, to set up work stations for us, to review the material we are interested in, and to do curatorial work ahead of our visit if necessary.

Collections welcome research visitors because that fulfill their mission of providing service to the scientific community. In return, visiting scientists add value to the collection by providing expert identification to specimens in the collection, and many times helping out with curation and organization of the collection.

When we get to a museum or collection, the first thing we see is, of course, the door. While most public museums have imposing entrances, many times the access to very important research collections is a modest door on the side of a building. The size and type of door absolutely does not reflect the quality of the collections inside.

Once inside, we have access to the inner sanctum of the collections: rows of cabinets filled with drawers filled with dry specimens carefully separated by group; vaults containing insect specimens preserved in ethanol, waiting to be sorted to family, genus, species. And that’s when our work begins!

During a research visit we usually: 1) examine (lots and lots of) specimens, dry or wet, under the microscope, 2) add identification labels to specimens that we recognize, 3) database the specimen label data, and 4) take photos of specimens (and specimen labels). Sometimes we do only 1 and 2, other times we do mostly 3 and 4. It depends on the collection and what we are hoping to accomplish during our visit.

Over the years we had the opportunity to visit many (many!) amazing research collections in various countries. Besides the collections, their rich treasure of specimens, and their dedicated curatorial staff, we also learnt a lot about the places and the people who live there. Looking forward to our next research visit to a collection!

 

About the Author: Dr. Luciana Musetti is an entomologist and Curator of the C. A. Triplehorn Insect Collection.

Up close and personal: insects and molluscs

 

Here’s one question I get frequently from visitors: “Why, oh, why, isn’t the Museum of Biological Diversity open to everyone every day?” That’s a very good question! Here’s an answer. Unlike institutions such as the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, the Carnegie Museum, or our neighbor the Cleveland Museum among others, our museum largely grew out of a background of higher education and research.  We have a different structure and a different mission than these other very fine institutions.  The most visible outcome of these differences is the fact that we don’t have large display areas and exhibits. We also do not have staff dedicated to public outreach. But it’s good to keep in mind that the MBD collections vary in the kinds of services they provide to the community. Each is unique in it’s own way.

My little corner of the MBD is the Triplehorn Insect Collection. We are a research facility and most of our specimens are only accessible to professional scientists and scientists in training (graduate students, postdoctoral associates, etc.)  This policy gets me in trouble with a lot of people who love insects and would like to come in to “see” (many times that means “touch”) the collection.  So, before anyone else gets hot under the collar about that, let’s try to understand what that policy means.

Dried insect specimens are as fragile as they are colorful and beautiful. The more they are handled and exposed to light and humidity, the faster and more likely they are to get damaged.  The insect specimens in the Triplehorn collection are the result of more than 100 years of careful collecting and curation, many of them were collected in forests and meadows and prairies that do not exist anymore. These specimens are, literally, irreplaceable, and it is our responsibility to keep them intact for many more long years.

Aquatic beetles.

Aquatic beetles. Part of the holdings of the Triplehorn Insect Collection.

 

Because of that, we restrict access to the specimens to only the people who must use them for scientific study, professionals who have lots of experience with museum specimens and therefore are less likely to damage our precious charges. As the curator of the collection, it is my responsibility to protect and preserve the specimens for the long run. To do that I have to enforce the “restricted access” policy.

Now, the fact that we are a research collection does not mean we don’t welcome visitors.  Quite the contrary! We are committed to sharing our knowledge and love of biodiversity with everyone interested.  While we don’t have exhibits per se, we frequently and happily provide tours of the collection to people from the local community. Or even not so local: our audience is wide and varied, from k-12 to university classes, to family or neighborhood groups, to homeschool groups, to citizen scientists and individuals interested in local and global insect diversity.

 

Up to now we have been scheduling visits as requests come in and our time allows, but starting this month we in the insect collection will be teaming up with our colleagues in the Mollusc Division of the MBD to offer guided tours of the two collections to the general public on set dates.  This initiative comes as a response to the increased interest in the collections, demonstrated by the increase in visit requests.

Tours will still be arranged in advance, but by specifying which days are open for tours we hope to make the whole process a bit easier and more predictable. The set dates might not work for all visitors, but by working together and establishing a structure for tour activities, we hope to continue serving the community without drastically increasing the work-load of our already overworked staff.

 

The next available dates for insect collection/mollusc collection joint tours are Friday, October 23rd and Friday, November 6th, from 1pm to 4pm. Total estimated tour time for the two collections is between 45 min to 1 hour/group. Group size limit is 20 adults.  For more information or to schedule a guided tour, please contact Tom Watters or Luciana Musetti.

 

About the Author: Dr. Luciana Musetti is an entomologist and Curator of the C.A. Triplehorn Insect Collection.

Hawai’ian Tree Snails – an old and unlikely Ohio connection

 

Hawai’i is (or was) home to a great diversity of tree snails in the families Achatinellidae and Amastridae. It seemed as if every valley on every island had its own suite of species. Many were quite common. But that was then. Now they have been decimated by the introduction, accidental or otherwise, of invasive hogs and other animals brought by European settlers. Some species, even an entire genus, have become extinct.

Wesley Newcomb

Wesley Newcomb

Wesley Newcomb (1808-1892) was a physician, social activist, and conchologist. Born in New York, he moved from Albany to California in 1849, then to Hawai’i in 1850 due, in part, to his wife’s ill health. There he practiced medicine, served on the Board of Health, became active in the Hawaiian Temperance Movement, and collected a lot of shells. In 1855 he returned to Albany. His collection was purchased by Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University, for $15,000, and it resides there still. An avid shell collector, Newcomb traveled to Europe, the West Indies, and Central and South America. He described over 100 species, including many Hawai’ian Achatinellidae and Amastridae.

The Division of Molluscs has a modest collection of Hawai’ian Achatinellidae and Amastridae originating from Newcomb. The collection was either purchased by or traded with Henry Moores in the mid-1800’s. (Henry Moores, 1812-1896, assembled one of the most diverse shell collections of his time. The Ohio State University purchased this collection, 3,500 specimens for $1,750, about 1890). Card stock used for labels cut from postcards date from the 1850s. The collection has an accompanying list of specimens, some notes, and a short letter to Moores. The curious, printed handwriting matches that of Newcomb’s labels now at the Paleontological Research Institute at Ithaca, New York, and there is no doubt that they are Newcomb’s specimens. Specimens have as many as six labels, with different numbers, in the same vials. However, according to Newcomb’s accompanying list, he inserted “card” labels with a number that matched the number on the list. These card labels, often small squares, have numbers written by Newcomb’s hand and can easily be discerned from the later labels added to the specimens. Some specimens are numbered in ink or pencil, but these numbers were added by Moores. The specimens were apparently sent to Moores after Newcomb’s return to the mainland.

Portion of letter to Moores

Portion of letter to Moores

Some aspects of the collection are interesting from a personal view of Newcomb. Many of the specimens were dirty and bear on the small card labels the advice “wash them” (we have carefully done so in a sonic cleaner). The list arrived before the shells as Newcomb tells Moores to “Wait for the Waggon! (Express)” And one label bears the opinionated observation: “‘guernea‘ W.H.P. [crossed out, then added:] A. perversa? Swains. ‘guernea‘ of some fool.” Newcomb’s “fool” was apparently contemporary fellow Hawai’ian conchologist, William Harper Pease.

 Below are some of Newcomb’s own specimens now in the Division of Molluscs.

About the Author: Dr. G. Thomas Watters is the Curator of Molluscs.

Remembering Carol B. Stein — Tetrapod Collection

 

Carol B. Stein, an Assistant Curator for the Natural History Department at the Ohio State Museum passed away this past March 2015 on 6 December 2010. Though her primary focus was in the Molluscs, she provided over 400 specimens to the Tetrapod Collection. In remembrance of all the collecting she did for the museum, we dedicate this post to her and her contribution to the Tetrapod Collection.

 

An eastern Cottontail Rabbit found dead by Carol during a day trip. This is an excellent example of the use a salvage animal is to a collection. Photo by Stephanie Malinich.
Indigo Bunting male collected in Holmes Co., Ohio. Photo by Stephanie Malinich.
A small collection of various species of shrews collected by Carol during her time at the MBD. Photo by Stephanie Malinich.
A Hellbender caught during a trip to Pennsylvania. Carol describes the specimen excitedly as “a 2′ long Hellbender” which her colleague caught with one hand. Photo by Stephanie Malinich.
Sometime Carol didn’t have time to catch tetrapods but she would note special findings. Muskrat midden is a pile of shells left by a muskrat after it feeds on mussels and clams. Photo by Stephanie Malinich.
A queen snake caught during a trip to Tennessee. Photo by Stephanie Malinich.

 

About the Author: Stephanie Malinich is the Collection Manager for the Tetrapod Collection.

 

Preparing the Dead – the Dying Art of Preparing Mammals and Birds

 

Looking at the mammal and bird skins in the OSU Tetrapod Collection, visitors commonly have some questions:

“Where did the specimen come from?”

“What did you do with the insides of the specimen?”

“Why are the specimens’ eyes white?”

 

To properly answer these questions, we need to go back in time to when naturalists, such as Charles Darwin or John James Audubon, went out into the field to collect specimens. When they captured a bird, they would remove the insides of the specimens to ensure that the skin would not spoil and rot before other naturalists could view and study it. Today, we continue to use very similar methods to preserve specimens, as well as new methods such as freeze drying. – Now going back to the visitors’ questions:

“Where do the specimens come from?”

Trays of brown and white waterfowl laying out on trays to be reorganzied.

Trays of prepared waterfowl specimens laid out to be reorganized.

In the past collecting birds and mammals was a very active process, very similar to today’s trophy hunting. Collectors would go out with shotguns, mist nest and traps to catch animals and collect them. Today, the most common way of getting specimens for collections is by salvaging already deceased animals. To do this, our collection possesses special permits (known as salvage permits) allowing us to salvage birds and mammals from all over the state of Ohio.

“What do you do with the insides of the specimen?”

The tendons found inside the tail of a North American Beaver.

The tendons found inside the tail of a North American Beaver.

We remove most of the bones and tissues of specimens during preparation, and the carcass is used in two ways: Most carcasses we examine internally to determine the sex of the specimen and to look at the animal’s last meal. This will provide some information about the ecology of the animal, what and where it has been feeding. Once that information has been recorded the carcass is disposed of. Rare specimen carcasses are put in a tank of dermestid beetles for a couple weeks till only the bones remain. Once cleaned, the bones are added into the collection for future research use.

“Why are the specimens’ eyes white?”

A row of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks males.

A row of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks males.

To ensure that our specimens will last 500 years or more we remove as much of the organic material as possible. This means that we remove the eyes, brain, body and a majority of the muscle tissue. After removing the organic tissues and matter, we fill the now empty skin with white cotton to represent the body 3 dimensionally. Since the eyeballs have been removed the white cotton in the inside of the head is visible through the eye sockets – hence the white eyes. By removing most of the organic material, we reduce the potential for attracting museum pests, such as the dermestid beetle also known as the flesh-eating beetle – you can imagine what this beetle would do to a specimen with intact insides.

Today, the traditional method of preparing specimens by skinning is slowly being lost. Newer methods of freeze drying specimens, using large freeze drying machines that pull all moisture out of the specimen, have become more popular. Freeze drying allows for more organic material to be preserved which in turn provides more material to use for DNA testing of specimens. In our collection, we do a combination of freeze drying and traditional methods of preparing specimens, depending on size and overall condition of the specimen.

How Can You Help?

To add to our collection we need citizen scientist, like yourself, who find a dead bird or mammal, write down the day and place where they found it, and donate it to the collection. On average, we get 10-15 new birds a month, which we put in a freezer to prepare at a later date. These specimens once accessioned will “live” in the collection for a century or longer.

Something to note: without proper permits, a citizen is not allowed to possess a deceased migratory bird, due to the Migratory Bird Act (more info at http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/migtrea.html).

 

About the Author: Stephanie Malinich is the Collection Manager for the Tetrapod Collection.