A critical evaluation of the exotic bird collection of the Šariš Museum in Bardejov, Slovakia.

Peter Mikula,Alexander Csanády,Martin Hromada

doi:10.3897/zookeys.776.24462

Peter Mikula, Alexander Csanády + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.776.24462

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Journal: ZooKeys	Publication Date: Jul 26, 2018
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Charles University, University of Prešov

Abstract

A collection of exotic birds deposited in the Šariš Museum in Bardejov (SMB), Slovakia, has not been evaluated critically since their deposition. We assessed the accuracy of identification of 465 bird specimens deposited in SMB with native distributions outside of Slovakia. Specimens belonged to 322 species of 82 families and 26 orders. Of the specimen represented, 34 belonged to species considered as ‘near-threatened’ (7.3%), 16 as ‘vulnerable’ (3.4%) and one as ‘endangered’ (0.2%). The SMB collection holds 10 of 28 extant Cuban endemic species and another 11 species endemic to the Caribbean archipelago. Even among birds that are relatively easy to identify, many specimens were identified incorrectly or species identification was missing. Of 465 specimens evaluated, 95 (20.4%) were identified incorrectly or were missing species identification, and another 79 (17%) were identified correctly, but their names have changed over time due to taxonomic shift, thus they required correction.

Highlights

Natural history collections have long served as a primary data source for addressing fundamental questions in systematics, biogeography, and conservation of organisms
To address the importance of Cuban specimens deposited in SMB, we conducted searches on publicly accessible databases of global vertebrate biodiversity, such as VertNet and Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF; https://www.gbif.org/; we focused on number of preserved specimens only, excluding, for instance, human observations)
SMB collection comprises 465 specimens (267 specimens are in public exhibition, 198 in scientific collection) of exotic bird species

Summary

Introduction

Natural history collections have long served as a primary data source for addressing fundamental questions in systematics, biogeography, and conservation of organisms. Specimens in such collections represent an important source of documentation of present and past occurrences of species with each specimen being unique and irreplaceable (Winker et al 1991, Wandeler et al 2007, Ariño 2010, Kress 2014). Rare species are endangered; for instance, over the last three decades, bird populations in Europe declined by ~20%, with many common species suffering steep declines (Kress 2014, Inger et al 2015)

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