{"product_id":"the-lost-species-great-expeditions-in-the-collections-of-natural-history-museums","title":"The Lost Species: Great Expeditions in the Collections of Natural History Museums","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe tiny  lungless Thorius salamander from southern Mexico  thinner than a match and smaller than a quarter. The lushly white-coated Saki  an arboreal monkey from the Brazilian rainforests. The olinguito  a native of the Andes  which looks part mongoose  part teddy bear. These fantastic species are all new to scienceat least newly named and identified; but they werent discovered in the wild  instead  they were unearthed in the drawers and cavernous basements of natural history museums. As Christopher Kemp reveals in The Lost Species  hiding in the cabinets and storage units of natural history museums is a treasure trove of discovery waiting to happen.  With Kemp as our guide  we go spelunking into museum basements  dig through specimen trays  and inspect the drawers and jars of collections  scientific detectives on the hunt for new species. We discover king crabs from 1906  unidentified tarantulas  mislabeled Himalayan landsnails  an unknown rove beetle originally collected by Darwin  and an overlooked squeaker frog  among other curiosities. In each case  these specimens sat quietly for decadessometimes longer than a centurywithin the collections of museums  before sharp-eyed scientists understood they were new. Each year  scientists continue to encounter new species in museum collectionsa stark reminder that we have named only a fraction of the worlds biodiversity. Sadly  some specimens have waited so long to be named that they are gone from the wild before they were identified  victims of climate change and habitat loss. As Kemp shows  these stories showcase the enduring importance of these very collections.  The Lost Species vividly tells these stories of discoveryfrom the latest information on each creature to the people who collected them and the scientists who finally realized what they had unearthedand will inspire many a museumgoer to want to peek behind the closed doors and rummage through the archives.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44985004589109,"sku":"ByrdShop_022638621X","price":22.9,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780226386218.jpg?v=1770843231","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-lost-species-great-expeditions-in-the-collections-of-natural-history-museums","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}