Museums provide a wealth of scientific information via preserved natural history specimens, including but not limited to dietary, morphological, and geographic distributions of organisms. In the modern molecular age, however, fluid-preserved museum collections have not always been at the frontline for generating useable data, despite the fact that for some species, only museum specimens are known, with no fresh genetic materials available. We are now at a major shift in our ability to use museum specimens for molecular phylogenetics, where modern subgenomic sequencing techniques better allow for successfully sequencing hundreds to thousands of phylogenetically informative loci for historical specimens, including formalin- and fluid-preserved amphibians and reptiles. Here, I review the current state of the field, with respect to studies which have successfully generated high-throughput molecular datasets using fluid-preserved specimens for herpetofauna, particularly for systematic studies. Although only six publications fitting the search criteria were found, these studies provide a wealth of knowledge on the uses of museum herpetological specimens for modern work and illustrate just how important historical specimens are for enhancing our current understanding of species genetic structure, phylogenetic placements, and for disentangling taxonomic conundrums. In an age where both museums and general collecting come under critique from the general public, this review emphasizes the continued importance of museum specimens across all subfields in the study of amphibians and reptiles.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
July 2021
SYMPOSIUM PROCEEDINGS: THE EXPANDING ROLE OF NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS|
May 31 2021
New Data from Old Specimens
Ichthyology & Herpetology (2021) 109 (2): 392–396.
Article history
Received:
September 30 2019
Accepted:
December 20 2019
Citation
Sara Ruane; New Data from Old Specimens. Ichthyology & Herpetology 1 July 2021; 109 (2): 392–396. doi: https://doi.org/10.1643/t2019293
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionCiting articles via
Habitat Usage, Dietary Niche Overlap, and Potential Partitioning between the Endangered Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata) and Other Turtle Species
Eaqan A. Chaudhry, Tami S. Ransom, Christina J. Bradley, Eric B. Liebgold
What Are You Doing Here? A Sculpin Endemic to Arkansas and Missouri (Cottus immaculatus) Appears in Connecticut
Joshua M. Tellier, Brooke Winsmann, Michael Humphreys, Stella Minoudi, Alexandros Triantafyllidis, Eric T. Schultz
Invasive Species as Sentinels: Measuring Health Outcomes in Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) during Removal
Emily K. Tucker-Retter, Matthew C. Allender, Romana A. Nowak, Cory D. Suski
Carter Rowell Gilbert (1930–2022)
Stephen J. Walsh, David G. Smith