Catalogue of the type specimens of Bufonidae and Megophryidae (Amphibia: Anura) from research collections of the Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences

The catalogue includes several images of each type specimen including the dorsal, ventral, lateral and head views of the toads and the storage jar with labels, collection data, maps showing type localities, and all available basic references. This dataset contains the information on 93 bufonid and 11 megophryid type specimens representing 27 taxa in 2 families under consideration. Among them 16 taxa are currently recognized as valid species or subspecies.The main portion of the collection of amphibian type specimens was formed as a result of systematic works by Russian and foreign specialists that described new species and subspecies in collections of the Zoological Institute. For example, 13 new taxa of amphibians were described by the Russian herpetologist, A. M. Nikolsky. Moreover, other new forms were described by J. von Bedriaga, A. A. Strauch, and S. Th. Tzarewsky. Recently a number of new species were described by N. L. Orlov on the basis of collections in the Zoological Institute from South-East Asia.An important part of the specimens was received from different zoological museums around the world. A. A. Strauch, director of Zoological Institute from 1879 to 1890 and a great Russian herpetologist, conducted an exchange of herpetological collections with museums in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen, Stuttgart, Brussels and Frankfurt am Main and with private persons such as De Betta in Verona, F. Lataste in Paris, V. L. Seoane in La Coruña, and well-known dealer Schneider in Basel. As a result, the Zoological Museum (now Institute) enriched itself from many new species including its original and authors’ specimens (Strauch, 1889). Many type specimens were received as a gift or in exchange from the Zoologisches Museum, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin in 1857 and 1982; Warsaw Museum in 1871; Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris in 1879; British Museum (Nat. Hist.), London in 1884 and 1892; Turin Museum of Natural History in 1896; Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde, Dresden; Cambridge University Museum in 1927; and Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago in 1959. In 1885 several specimens were bought from the Linnaea Institute situated in Frankfurt am Main and later in Berlin. This firm purchased animals from various collectors and identified them and then sold the specimens to museums. A herpetological collection from Paraguay described by O. Boettger was bought from H. Rodhe. Later a part of this collection including Boettgers’ types (Bufo levicristatus and others) went to St. Petersburg. In the 19 – early 20 century collection has grown rapidly due to extensive materials collected by expeditions of N. M. Przhewalsky, P. K. Kozlov, A. N. Kaznakov, M. V. Pewzow, G. Potanin, G. E. Grum-Grzhimailo and S. N. Alpheraky in Central Asia and Turkestan, N. A. Zarudny in Persia and other famous voyagers.Digitizing of research collections of the Zoological Institute is performed within the framework of RFBR №15-29-02457 (competition of oriented basic research on important interdisciplinary themes 2015) «The collections of the Zoological Institute as an important tool and information basis of fundamental biological research» (project leader Dr. N.B. Ananjeva).