The ANU Department of Archaeology and Natural History maintains a collection of animal skeletons for use
in identifying bones recovered from archaeological or natural death sites. We have an extensive fish collection
with specimens from Australian waters as well as samples from Papua New Guinea, Tonga, and other locations. Our
mammal, bird and reptile/amphibian collections include a variety of specimens from Australia and nearby islands. The
collection is available to students and researchers. To arrange for a visit, contact
the Department
of Archaeology and Natural History.
Specimens have been collected over many years by many people. Many specimens have incomplete records, and are
missing data such
as the collection date and specimen size. See the
| Data Field |
Field Description |
| ANH Specimen Code |
An alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies each specimen. The first character of the code is
a B', 'F', 'M', or 'R', corresponding to whether the specimen is a bird, fish, mammal or reptile/amphibian.
This code is required to
locate the specimen within the collection. |
| Family |
The taxonomic family of the specimen. Selecting this data field will result in both the family name and
the family code being output. The specimens are stored in approximate alphabetical order by family, genus, species and
specimen id (see the collection overview), so the quickest way to locate a particular
specimen is to record both its taxonomic information and ANH specimen code. The family code is the same as the
taxonomic serial number used by the ITIS (http://www.itis.gov) for that
family. If the family is unknown, a common animal name is just shown (e.g., "Unknown Turtle") on the specimen
label and in the database.
|
| Genus |
The taxonomic genus of the specimen.
The genus recorded is the genus considered valid by the
ITIS (http://www.itis.gov) for each species. This required a name change for some
specimens, as the accepted name sometimes changes over the years. See the Strength of Identification and Comments fields.
If the genus is unknown, it is shown as "unknown" on the specimen label and in the database.
|
| Species |
The taxonomic species of the specimen.
The species recorded is the species considered valid by the
ITIS (http://www.itis.gov) for each species. This required a name change for some
specimens, as the accepted name sometimes changes over the years. See the Strength of Identification field. If the species
is unknown, it is shown as "unknown" (rather than the more common "sp.") on the specimen label and in the database.
|
| Common Name(s) |
One or more common names for the specimen. In most cases, this is the name of the specimen as recorded
by the original collector. As such, it should be considered an instance of an Australian English name
for the specimen. Not all species have common names
recorded here. For additional common names in English and other languages, see the Encyclopedia of Life
link provided for each specimen or the
ITIS site (http://www.itis.gov).
|
| Bones Included |
If this field is blank or "Complete", the entire skeleton is included. Otherwise only a subset of the
skeleton may be present, such as only the head.
|
| Collection |
One of the following: "Amphibian", "Bird", "Fish", "Mammal", or "Reptile". Although reptiles and amphibians
both have specimen ids that begin with 'R', amphibians are separable from reptiles via this field.
|
| Collector Name |
The name of the person or people who collected the original specimen.
|
| Collection Date |
The date or approximate date when the specimen was first collected. For those collected from fish shops,
it is the date of purchase.
|
| Collection Location |
The spot, general area or store where the specimen was collected.
|
| Collector Comments |
Any additional comments provided by the collector. May include the means of collection or who prepared the
specimen for storage.
|
| Currently on Loan? |
If "Yes", then the specimen is currently on loan and not immediately available for inspection. We may be able to
make arrangements with the loanee to make the specimen available. Mammal specimens currently on loan to the ANU School
of Archaeology and Anthropology are not included in the catalog and are not identifiable via this field. See the
mammal collection overview for more information.
|
| Sex |
The sex of the specimen: Female, Male, or Unknown. Some fish can only be identified as not an adult male, in which
case this field shows "Juvenile or Female".
|
| Lifecycle Stage |
The lifecycle stage of the specimen: Adult, Egg, Fetus, Fullsize, Juvenile, Not Specified
or Unknown. Most specimens are adult.
|
| Length |
The total length of the specimen when collected, in millimeters.
|
| Height |
The height of the specimen when collected, in millimeters. For fish, this is the "standard length" in millimeters.
|
| Weight |
The weight of the specimen when collected, in grams.
|
| Storage Location |
The location of the specimen. Usually identifies the room and shelving row containing the collection. Will be shown as "Loan" when
the specimen is on loan.
|
| Missing? |
If "Yes", then the specimen cannot be located.
|
| General Comments |
Any additional comments, usually relating to the database entry rather than the specimen itself.
|
| Strength of Identification |
If the species name has changed since the original
identification, then the strength of identification will be "Name Change". If the original collector or a subsequent
researcher expressed some uncertainty about
the identification, then this will be "Uncertain". Often the strength of identification was not recorded by
the original collector, in which case this field will be "Not Specified". Most "Not Specified" identification strengths
are thought to be secure at whatever taxonomic level is shown. If at some point after acquistion the bones of this
specimen were mixed with some other
specimen, this field will be shown as "Mixed". If the species was only identified by comparing its bones to another
specimen, this field will be shown as "Bone Comparison".
|
| Link to image of bones |
Not yet implemented. A link to an image of the specimen's bones.
|
| Link to Encyclopedia of Life |
Clicking on this link opens a window showing the Encylopedia of Life entry for the current specimen. The EOL
page usually includes a picture of the animal, description of its habitat and behavioral characteristics,
the full ITIS taxonomy, and other information.
|
| Obsolete Catalog Code |
Some specimens were donated from another museum, and therefore have had a different catalog code
associated with them. When known, the obsolete catalog code is recorded in this field.
|
| Card Data Entered |
This field is not visible via the normal online interface to the collection database. It is, however, included
in the label output (see here for more information on label creation).
It is intended as a temporary field that a database maintainer can modify at will, and can be used to
identify those specimens which were added or modified during a particular collection update. Do not
rely on this information remaining stable over time as the maintainer is free to change it at any time.
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