The Arkansas Center for Biodiversity Collections (ACBC) serves as the unified repository of natural history specimen collections from the Arkansas State University Museum of Zoology (ASUMZ) and the Arkansas State University Herbarium (STAR). Located on the Arkansas State University campus, the ACBC includes collections of aquatic macroinvertebrates (mostly larval insects), insects (pinned adults), bivalves, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, diatoms, vascular plants, and non-vascular plants. There is a dominant regional focus within Arkansas, with specific geographic areas of interest being the Ozark Plateaus region, Crowley’s Ridge, and the Mississippi Alluvial Plain.
The vision of the ACBC is to serve as a unified, accessible specimen repository and research center for the State of Arkansas, including the Interior Highlands, Upper Mississippi Alluvial Plain, and Crowley’s Ridge ecoregions. This region is a major center of endemism for numerous taxonomic groups in eastern North America, but also one that has seen drastic landscape modifications over the past 150 years. A large proportion of the collections at ACBC cover these unique and diverse ecosystems and represent long-term records that pre-date or document biota during habitat transforming activities in the region. These collections, therefore, serve as base-line data points for ongoing and future changing conditions.
Search ASUMZ specimens in Arctos: arctosdb.org
Search STAR specimens in SERNEC: sernecportal.org
Specimen loan inquiries should be directed to:
Dr. Brook Fluker – ASUMZ specimens
Dr. Travis Marsico – STAR Herbarium specimens
