Name:______

UC Berkeley Natural History Museums Virtual Tour

This worksheet is designed to take you on a virtual tour of three of UC Berkeley’s Natural History Museums, before you get to explore the museums in person next week. Go to the website and click on the links to answer the following questions.

UC and Jepson Herbaria

On the UC and Jepson Herbaria homepage click on General Information-

- What are herbaria?

- How many specimens are in the herbaria?

Now go back to the UC and Jepson Herbaria homepage and click on News-

- What is the name of the gradstudent who rediscovered the Mt. Diablo buckwheat?

Go back to the UC and Jepson Herbaria homepage and click on Online Resources-

Click on the link called SMASCH interface: Accession records

Now query an accession (specimen) record! Type JEPS36905 in the box that says “Accession Number”, then hit “Submit Query”

-What is the “Determination”, also known as the scientific name of the plant?

-Who was the collector?

-When was it collected?

Click on the link that says Visit the Jepson Interchange for more information about this taxon. Then click on Cal Photos link. Type in the scientific name of the plant you just looked up.

- Sketch what the plant looks like:

Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Go to General Information

-When was this museum founded?

Now go to Collections-

-How many specimens are there?

-Under Egg and Nest Collection: How many egg sets are there?

-Why do you think it is important to have egg samples?

Click on Query the MVZ Database. Click Amphibians and View Complete Data Records and then Query Specimens

-What is the scientific name of the first specimen from the United States listed for the year youwere born? (Put your year of birth in both year spaces, otherwise it will not work)

Now go to which is a database of pictures that researchers have taken-

-Put in the scientific name from the question above. Now describe the first picture for this species.

Essig Museum of Entomology

On the Essig homepage, you see the California state butterfly.

-What is the common name?

-Where do you think the common name comes from?

-What is the scientific name (the one in italics)?

Now go to Collection Holdings-

-How many pinned specimens are there?

-What is the most common taxon in the museum? What percent of the collection does this group make up?

Go to Specimen Database-

-What is the scientific name of the one specimen in the Essig Museum that was collected in Pittsburg, California? (Holding Institution equals: Essig Museum of Entomology; Locality contains: Pittsburg; State/Provice equals: California)

-What is the Catalogue Number (Cat. Num.)? Click on this number to access more information

-What is the Order of this specimen?

-Is this a male or female?