{"id":86216,"date":"2025-04-17T09:54:44","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T14:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=86216"},"modified":"2025-04-17T09:54:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T14:54:46","slug":"sternberg-museum-boasts-impressive-array-of-specimen-collections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=86216","title":{"rendered":"Sternberg Museum boasts impressive array of specimen collections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By CONNOR KEATING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Sternberg Museum of Natural History is most well known for its paleontology collection, which includes a variety of marine animals once native to Kansas, behind the scenes, the museum hosts an equally impressive collection of modern-day fauna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jackson Roberts, the zoological collections manager at Sternberg, describes the museum\u2019s zoology collection as six different collections, or seven if you include what he jokingly referred to as their \u201csuper secret collection,\u201d all combined into one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur six collections are our ornithology collection – so our birds – our mammalogy collection, our reptile and amphibian collection – which is considered one collection – our herpetology collection, our fish collection, our entomology collection, and our non-insect invertebrate collection, which is mostly freshwater mussels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201csuper secret seventh collection\u201d consists of tissue samples from many of the museum\u2019s mammal specimens and almost all of the reptiles and amphibians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur tissue collection is actually our most requested collection by researchers from across the country,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThis is the resource that allows researchers to use genomic data to ask questions about evolution, population, genetics, conservation genetics, all sorts of genetic based questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roberts estimates that the collection has around 19,000 reptiles and amphibians, 49,000 mammals, 6,000 birds, 100,000 insects, between 6,000 and 6,500 non-insect invertebrates, and 35,000 fish, but due to the way that fish are cataloged, having multiple individuals under one specimen number, it\u2019s probably closer to a million fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out of everything though, Roberts believes that one of, if not the most important part of the collection is the mussel section. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFreshwater mussels are the best bioindicator of freshwater health, and water is a huge deal in our state, and because we have such an extensive Kansas mussel collection that dates back to the 1950s or 60s, it literally can provide real-time signatures of ecosystem decline or improvement.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Hays junior and curatorial assistant at the Sternberg, Isaac Fox said the importance of any natural history museum, especially zoology and botany, is to document plants and animals through space and time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur job is to have as complete of a record as we can of what plants and animals occur where, when,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the most important thing, it tells us how populations are doing long term, if invasive species are spreading, and where species are declining. We can do a lot with the data we collect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the museum\u2019s cylindrical papershell specimens.
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The drawer containing the museum\u2019s spotted skunk specimens.
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The museum is constantly working to improve its mussel collection, and recently got new drawers specifically for them. Of the many drawers of mussels, the most special one belongs to the cylindrical papershell, a species of mussel that is almost totally extinct in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe last one that was found was actually found here in Ellis County and they only found one specimen over many years of searching, and they were unable to refind it,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cSo our cylindrical papershell collection is outstanding, but it\u2019s also sad to know that you have representatives and you don\u2019t know if they\u2019re gonna bounce back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, Roberts considers the most important mammal drawer to be one consisting of a species that is on the verge of extinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a great series of beautifully prepped spotted skunks, and the reason that drawer is so important is because spotted skunks are one of two endangered mammals in the state,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThey began declining rapidly in the 80s and 90s and we don\u2019t really know why. It is a huge deal if a spotted skunk is observed in Kansas, so if you or anyone you know sees a spotted skunk, please call Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another important drawer in the mammal collection is one that seems rather inconspicuous at first glance, but actually features the neotype of the short-tailed shrew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of deep museum jargon, but when you get into type specimens, the holotype, or sometimes called the neotype, which is a replacement that has been designated for a lost or destroyed holotype,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThat\u2019s a huge deal to have, that is the most important specimen of a species, and we have the neotype, and a few paratypes of blarina brevicauda<\/em> (short-tailed shrew), which is housed right outside my office door.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The neotype and some of the paratypes for the short-tailed shrew.
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The eastern tiger swallowtail collection featuring the gynandromorph on the right.
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Speaking of deep museum jargon, the insect collection houses some of the paratypes for the forthaysi jumping bristletail, paratypes being a few additional specimens referenced along with the holotype of a species when it\u2019s first described. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(It\u2019s) a pretty nondescript-looking insect. Kind of like a silverfish but more hunched back,\u201d Fox said. \u201cThe species was named by Dr. Richard Packauskas back in the early 2010s, and it was named after Fort Hays State University. It was actually the type series, like the holotype, paratypes, everything was collected on Fort Hays property. It\u2019s not restricted to this general vicinity, though. I personally have found one in Ellsworth county at Lake Kanopolis and possibly a second one down in Coffey county.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the crown jewel of the insect section is the butterfly collection, due to its size and the fact that it\u2019s almost entirely Kansas-focused. Even some of the species that aren\u2019t native to Kansas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have the only Kansas record of the orange banded longwing,\u201d Fox said. \u201cIt\u2019s a species of heliconian butterfly typically found in Texas and South through Central America and we have one specimen in our collection that was collected right here by Hays in 1986. So that\u2019s a cool one. It\u2019s the only specimen of that species ever recorded from Kansas. Probably got blown up with a storm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the favorite butterfly drawers is that of the eastern tiger swallowtail, which features one specimen that\u2019s a gynandromorph. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(A gynandromorph) is an individual who is half genetically male and half genetically female,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cIt\u2019s a species where the males are that tiger yellow and black and the females are pure black, but the specimen looks like a 5th grader cut two in half and glued them together, it\u2019s really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the ichthyology collection, also known as fish, there are a number of endangered species like the neosho madtom, but some of the stars of the collection are specimens of common everyday fish found throughout the state, so what makes them so special?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a special section dedicated to the specimens used by world-renowned fish artist Joseph Tomelleri who went here, to Fort Hays,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cJoe is not just the best fish artist to come out of Fort Hays, he is one of the best to have ever done it. We have specially labeled the specimens that he used for his illustrations and it\u2019s a really special part of that collection\u2019s history, to be a part of Joe\u2019s career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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