The herpetological collection is a widely used resource. Loans of specimens, tissues for genetic analysis, and other material are made available to qualified parties pending the approval of the ARDRC curatorial board. Please contact our collections manager, Gregory Pandelis, at gregory.pandelis@uta.edu to submit a request or for inquiries.
The general loan process is as follows:
- Contact the ARDRC with a general description of the request.
- The ARDRC collections manager will provide guidance and request additional information.
- If requested, an official letter on institutional letterhead should be provided addressing the merits of the research and details of the request.1
- Approval may then be granted, contingent on:
- Number of specimens requested.
- Which specimens are being requested.
- The borrower’s intent with the loaned materials.
- The location of the borrower.
- Borrower’s previous loan record.
- Some loans may be denied due to priority use by another investigator.
- If approved, specimens or tissues will then be shipped to the researcher or in some cases may be picked up by the researcher in person.
- Researchers accepting a loan must agree to and sign our Loan/Gift Terms and Guidelines as well as the loan invoice to indicate receipt of the material in good order and acceptance of responsibility for the specimens’ welfare.
- Loans must be promptly returned after a period of (typically) 6 months. Extensions may be granted by contacting the curatorial staff. Specimens should be shipped back to the ARDRC at the mailing address listed here.
1Students requesting a specimen loan must submit their letters of request signed by their major academic advisor, who must take official responsibility for the loan. In general, loans are made only to faculty or permanent staff affiliated with research institutions.
If submitting a request which involved destructive sampling, please refer to our Destructive Sampling Policy for guidance and special conditions.
If your request involves photographing, CT scanning, or otherwise producing facsimiles of a specimen, you will be asked to agree to and sign our Digital Media User Agreement containing terms and conditions for the use and dissemination of that material.
Material is also available for use and study on-site. Please contact our collections manager to coordinate a research visit to the collections.