The Academy's Herpetology collection of amphibians and reptiles is one of the 10 largest in the world, containing more than 309,000 cataloged specimens from 175 countries. Learn more about the department's staff, research, and expeditions.
Museum collections are extremely important as a record of what existed at various times and places around the world. In a way, each jar is like a time capsule. I recently described a new species based on a specimen that was collected 80 to 90 years ago in a little-studied mountain range in southern Tanzania. In discussing with colleagues working in the area, it now seems that frog species may be extinct. Just think, without collections from decades ago, we would not even know of its existence.