Curation and cataloging of the Old collections of fossil vertebrates of the Museo de La Plata (1884–1902): the case of nesodontinae (Mammalia, notoungulata,toxodontidae) from the Santa Cruz Formation

Abstract

The process of organizing early collections for the simple sake of storing and retrieving information—for example, assigning identifying numbers to specimens, recording those numbers in a catalog, and, more recently, adding that information to a computerized database—has long been central to museum collections management. In this sense, catalog numbers are vital when specimens are used for research. Particularly the early fossil vertebrate collections (“Old Collections”) of the Museo de La Plata, Argentina, incorporated in the last decades of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th century (that is, between 1884 and 1902) to this institution are considered foundational. They hold approximately 35,000 specimens that show diverse and varied ways in the curatorial and cataloging procedures carried out throughout time. In this contribution, we selected the notoungulate mammals Nesodontinae (Toxodontidae) from the Santa Cruz Formation (Early–Middle Miocene) housed in the Vertebrate Paleontology collection, as a sample study. The reasons to study this group are: (1) its scientific importance, as it was one of the best studied between 1887 and 1894; (2) it includes some of the first vertebrates incorporated into the Museo de La Plata in 1884; and (3) there are a large number of specimens in the collection. More than 780 specimens were reviewed, with 84 type specimens registered, several previously reported as lost.