Ichthyological collection of the Unillanos Natural History Museum (MHNU-I), Universidad de los Llanos, Villavicencio, Colombia

Abstract

The ichthyological collection of the Unillanos Natural History Museum (MHNU-I) is the first fish collection of the Colombian Orinoquia. The collection harbors 78 806 specimens in 3229 lots, collected between 2012 and 2019, representing 10 orders, 42 families, 170 genera, and 272 species, coming mostly from freshwater environments of the Orinoco River basin (99 %), representing 37.3 % of the total number of freshwater species listed for the Orinoco hydrographic area. The collection contains records of 20 endemic species, two threatened species (Potamotrygon orbignyi and Sorubim lima), and two introduced species (Caquetaia kraussii and Oreochromis niloticus). The information contained in this dataset allows consolidating the ichthyological collection of the MHNU, as a point of reference in terms of fish diversity of this region.

Keywords

• endemic species
• freshwater fishes
• introduced species
• natural history museum
• orinoco