- Title
- An Updated Catalogue and Review of Afrotherian (Afroplacentalia) Mammals in the Amathole Museum Collection, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Creator
- Mahala, Buyiswa
- Subject
- Mammals
- Date
- 2021-03
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/20741
- Identifier
- vital:46513
- Description
- The Mammalogy Collection of the Amathole Museum is one of the most comprehensive mammal collections in Africa, with a specialisation in southern African fauna. It was accumulated over almost 100 years, in some instances from areas that no longer support sustainable populations of wildlife. The collection, therefore, is irreplaceable. A museum collection is only as good as its accessibility to students and researchers for it to perform its functions as a biodiversity archive. Accessibility, in turn, depends on up-to-date taxonomy and classification; good curation practices; public awareness of the collection; and electronic access to the details of the collection’s composition. The higher-level taxonomy of the Class Mammalia has undergone extensive changes since the adoption of molecular systematic techniques. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on large DNA sequence databases consistently group placental mammals into four superorders: Laurasiatheria (carnivores, bats, ungulates, whales); Euarchontoglires, a super-clade that includes primates (apes, monkeys and allies), rodents (mouse, rat and guinea pig), lagomorphs, (rabbit and hares), dermopterans (flying lemurs or colugos) and scandentians (tree shrew); Xenarthra (armadillos, anteaters, sloths), and Afrotheria (elephants, sea cows, tenrecs, aardvarks, sengis, golden moles, hyraxes). New relationships have been recognised that have required the erection of new taxonomic groups. Most of the Amathole Museum mammal collection was assembled and accessioned long before this new system was devised, and I undertook this project to begin the re-organisation of the collection according to the new information. I conducted and audit and inventory of all specimens of Afrotheria, or the mammals of African origin, housed in the Amathole Museum collection. I photographed the specimens and corrected and updated their taxonomic details. As we now live in an age of digital information, natural history collections need to be available online to extend public access. Specimen details were entered into Excel files, and their localities were mapped. This kind of information has the possibility of transforming biological curricula to include more authentic and inquiry-driven educational experiences. My future goals are to acquire Malagasy tenrecs for the Amathole Afrotheria collection, and to investigate the taxonomic validity of the Amathole hyrax collection, as many specimens were found with confusing and out-of-date classifications.
- Description
- Thesis (MSc) (Zoology) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (120 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Science and Agriculture
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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UFH Department of Zoology & Entomology
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Mahala_final_amended_dissertation_Signed.pdf | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |