Destructive requests for all analyses except genetic sequencing can be submitted with an initial loan request. For destructive requests for the purpose of genetic sequencing, please submit a Genetic Loan Request Form.
Loan requests will take at least a few weeks to review. If approved, they will take at least 2 months from the date requested to be shipped.
On-site visitors to the collection must also follow the above procedure prior to alteration of specimens.
Specimens cannot be altered in any way without the written approval of a USNM curator.
When permission for sexing specimens has been given, incisions must be performed to avoid cutting skeletal elements and viscera; incisions should be kept as small as possible.
Anurans: incision on dorsolateral body wall, adjacent to the sacral diapophysis.
Salamanders & Lizards: midventral incision beginning midbody (but posterior to sternal elements including inscriptional ribs, extending posteriorly to pubes, here a lateral incision on one side is permitted.
Snakes, Amphisbaenians, & Caecillians: short mid-ventral incision over the gonad region; do not extend incision from vent forward to midbody. If incision remains open, close with 1 or 2 suture stitches. If a snake is sexed by hemipenal dissection, the incision should be made to locate only one hemipenis.
Sampling tissue from morphological specimens (e.g., ethanol preserved or formalin-fixed specimens, dry skin samples, dry tissue from osteological material) for genetic resources is a destructive sampling request, which requires approval of all curator. To request tissue via destructive sampling of specimens for genetic analyses, researchers must submit a completed Genetic Loan Request Form to HerpLoans@si.edu. Please carefully read and follow all instructions on the form to assist Divisional staff.
The Division of Amphibians and Reptiles lends specimens from its research collections for computed tomography and other imaging scans for scientific and educational purposes that are consistent with the curatorial policies of the Division and with the goals and objectives of the National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution.
