New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (NMMNH) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has one of the most scientifically significant fossil collections in the United States (Spielmann and Lucas, 2006). The collection holds world-class assemblages of Late Pennsylvanian fossils, Permian tracks, Triassic vertebrates, Late Cretaceous dinosaurs and Paleocene mammals, among others. The NMMNH was founded in 1980 by an act of the Legislature of the State of New Mexico, with the paleontology collection being established in 1983. In the last 32 years, the collection has grown to more than 70,000 cataloged specimens and more than 10,000 fossil localities. Museum staff, adjunct researchers, students and volunteers have collected the majority of NMMNH fossils, with the remainder coming from other institutions as orphaned collections (Morgan and Lucas, 2000). The vertebrate paleontology type collection includes a diverse array of specimens, from the 3535 kg (11,600 lb.) block with some of the dorsal vertebrae of the Jurassic sauropod dinosaur “Seismosaurus” hallorum, to a tooth of the Cretaceous eutherian mammal Gypsonictops clemensi that fits on the head of a pin. The vertebrate paleontology type collection of the NMMNH consists of 129 primary type specimens—81 holotypes and 48 paratypes. Of the 81 holotypes, 35 are genoholotypes; 68 of the 81 holotypes are from New Mexico, with the remaining 13 from Texas, Wyoming, Montana and Alabama. The number of holotype specimens by geologic time period is:Mississippian (1), Pennsylvanian (14), Permian (2), Triassic (26), Jurassic (1), Cretaceous (18), Paleocene (15), and Eocene (4). The following classes are represented in the NMMNH vertebrate paleontology type collection: Chondrichthyes (9), Acanthodii (1), Osteichthyes (4), Amphibia (2), Reptilia (32) and Mammalia (20).

References:

1. Morgan, G.S., and Lucas, S.G., 2000, Type specimens of fossil vertebrates in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 16, p. 253-259.
2. Spielmann, J.A., and Lucas, S.G., 2006, The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Geoscience Collection: an overview: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 34, p. 165-168.