I am looking specifically for nuthatch skeletons from the Middle East and Asia. No species are rare in their distributions, just in Western museum collections.
Please insert the name of species or even be more specific, then I could help from Brazilian collections
Do you know if any of the species of your interest are kept in captivity in zoological institutions? If so, and if you don't mind using captive individuals, dead specimens considered exotic will most probably be donated to close-by museums. As it always takes a while to process a carcass, it may be that they are still not included in their catalogues.
The Field Museum has a couple in their collection, one from Malaysia and one from Pakistan. The American Museum of Natural History has a few as well. The Smithsonian has several in their collection of birds from several different places in Asia. I would suspect that others, such as the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, have them as well. That is if you are only focusing on collections in the US. I would suspect other countries have them as well, such as the museum in Paris, especially the closer you get to the collection location.
What are you looking for? You can find hidden or forgotten "treasures" in the collection of small, local museums.
It also depends exactly what you want to use them for, if its comparative anatomy maybe locality data is not as critical, hence some ex pet trade specimens can be helpful. If its taxonomic work then locality data is more important and hence museum material will serve you better. A combination may also be appropriate. The next point also is do you need these already skeletonised? or are you happy to do that part. For valid research many museums are willing to have some of their specimens skeletonised, you would have to ask them. But this means you have to clean whatever skeletons you need. Its harder to find specimens that are already fully prepared.
Yes, Arpad - I was thinking I would have to resort to that. The trouble is mainly that people don't tend to skeletonize birds because skins are easier to prepare.
The species I chiefly need are Sitta tephronata and Sitta neumayer. AMNH, Harvard, Yale, Drexel, and the Smithsonian don't have skeletons of these species, and neither to the big museums at Paris and London.
I'd especially love to get any info on small museums in Southern/Eastern Europe of Asia -
Thanks for your help!
and since there was an offer of Brazilian help, I am also interested in a woodpecker that has been hard to find: Colaptes rupicola
Looks like the Smithsonian has about 60, mostly from China and Java. Most, however, are skins or whole specimens in alcohol. MicroCT may be an option to get skeletal imaging out of those specimens. The difficulty is getting them lent out. This used to be possible, to do, though, at least for mammals. I would contact one of the curators there and ask. They may also have a scanner there that can be used for a fee. Hope that helps!
I just saw Scott's reply. I am doing a morphometric study of climbing birds, and members of the same lineages that have become secondarily terrestrial; hence the need for the ground-dwelling nuthatches, which are plain and common enough where they are that I've never seen any in zoos, aviaries, or the pet trade. So, really nothing is needed beyond the skeletons themselves --
I am qiute sure that there are lots of bird skeletons can be found in the collection of Matra Museum, Gyöngyös, Hungary. Please contact: [email protected]!
I have found a variety of Old World bird skulls (and some complete skeletons) on eBay for reasonable prices. I don't know specifically about nuthatches, but new things come up continuously. There is a remarkable diversity of skeletal material available.
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