by Timothy A. Pearce and Rachel Thomas Beckel What do we mean when we say we have type specimens in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) collections?   Type specimens are (usually) the specimen(s) a person describing a new species looks at as they write the description (it’s this tall, this wide, this color, sculptured with bumps like this, etc.) and type specimens are the official name bearers for the whole species.  There are many kinds of type specimens, but the most important kind is the holotype. Paratypes (other specimens the original describer believes are the sa ..read more

Albert D. Kollar, Collection Manager of Invertebrate Paleontology Last year, when Albert Kollar, Collection Manager of Invertebrate Paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, was planning for, and later recovering from, knee surgeries, it was common to hear people wish him well by saying, “You’ll be back on the outcrop soon.” In the wake of his untimely death last week, those wishes are worth examining for all they capture of Albert’s generous and long-standing sharing of geologic knowledge. Outcrop, as anyone who participated in one of his geology-focused hikes already knows, refers ..read more

by Jessica Romano As the seasons change from winter to spring here in western Pennsylvania, a common sight on a recent walk included fallen and decomposing trees. Interesting to look at and begging to be photographed, these fallen trees also hold a very important role in the ecosystem.  This uprooted tree shows the roots still attached, along a hiking trail in Hartwood Acres Park. Dead and fallen trees are host to many forms of wildlife, some of which are easy to spot, like squirrels, woodpeckers, and snakes, while others may require a closer look to identify, including fungi, insects, an ..read more

by Olivia Buehler Within the collections of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, one may be surprised to find more than the biological specimens, fossils, and extensive anthropological and archaeological materials that the museum is best known for. As a major scientific institution that collects and conducts research, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History also has its own “Natural History Art” Collection, formerly known as the M. Graham Netting Animal Portraiture Collection, named after the herpetologist, former CMNH director, and founder of the collection. Consisting mostly of mid-twentie ..read more

by Elizabeth A. Begley and Albert D. Kollar Did you know that invertebrate fossils make up more than 50% of the specimens on exhibit in Dinosaurs in Their Time (DITT)? It’s true! But these fossils can be easy to miss among the giant dinosaurs and vertebrate reptiles. Luckily, ongoing research on the biodiversity within our gallery spaces, from locations including England, Germany, and the United States, will help visitors better understand the importance of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Invertebrate Paleontology collection research, exhibition, and education initiatives1 ..read more

by Erin Southerland March Mammal Madness (MMM) bracket advice: look up the scientific names of species on the MMM website before you make your predictions. While MMM can be silly and ridiculous, it is an educational tool and the details matter. Let’s explore why by looking at the Pitcher Plant (7) vs. Northern Short-tailed Shrew (10) match.   Pitcher plant isn’t a specific species of plant, rather it describes plants with a modified leaf that resembles and acts like a pitfall trap.  Nepenthes rajah, a species of pitcher plant. © Thibaud Aronson, (CC BY-SA) Bonnie Isaac, Collecti ..read more

by John Wible World Pangolin Day 2024 is on February 17, a day to raise awareness of pangolins or scaly anteaters, one of the most unique and endangered mammals on Earth. Their scales are harvested for traditional medicines that see them as cure-alls, but their scales are made of keratin like your fingernails and hair. Their scales are as medicinally effective as biting your nails. Although I will get to pangolins, I am starting with our feathered avian friends. Birds have a Y-shaped bone in their chest called a furcula (Latin for little fork). It is part of the flight apparatus and is thought ..read more

by Annie Lindsay Nestled between the Chestnut and Laurel Ridges near the town of Rector, Pennsylvania lies Powdermill Nature Reserve, Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s environmental field research station, where ornithologists have been operating a long-term bird banding station since June 1961. In 62 years of banding birds year-round, we’ve gathered more than 830,000 banding records of nearly 200 species. Some, like the Cedar Waxwing, have tens of thousands of records in our dataset, whereas single individuals are the only representatives of other species, like Kirtland’s Warbler. Banding ..read more

by Timothy A. Pearce and Mandi Lyon When a snail needs a larger shell, it simply grows its shell larger, continuing the spiral. However, when a hermit crab needs a larger shell, it must find a larger shell to move into. Consequently, hermit crabs depend on snails to provide housing. Hermit crabs have soft abdomens, which are vulnerable to predators, so they keep their abdomens protected inside of snail shells. There are amusing stories of several hermit crabs lining up in order of shell size, in a type of pecking order. When a new shell becomes available, the hermit crab hi ..read more

by Annie Lindsay American Woodcock. Photo by Powdermill Avian Research Center. For a few hours before dawn on the chilly morning of December 16, several intrepid birders scoured the Rector Christmas Bird Count circle for owls, and with a bit of luck, counted four species. Eastern Screech-Owl is a common, year-round resident and a respectable 14 individuals were heard calling that morning, in addition to one encounter each of Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl, and Northern Saw-whet Owl. Once the sun rose that morning, the owlers were joined by many other birders to spend the day systematically searc ..read more