Hello Everyone! I am back again with another museum species list, this time covering the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, located in downtown Raleigh. Unlike the previous NC facilities I have done lists for, this one is NOT AZA-accredited, but nevertheless, it is quality facility and one that I have visited frequently. The museum itself consists of 2 buildings in downtown Raleigh; the Nature Exploration Center and the Nature Research Center. Both buildings are connected by a bridge on the 2nd/3rd floors. The museum also operates several satellite facilities elsewhere in NC, including Prairie Ridge Ecostation, an outdoor park and preserve in west Raleigh, 2 facilities in Greenville and Whiteville, and an outdoor classroom and trails in Grifton, NC. My list will only cover the downtown facilities. This list is based on my most recent visit on 02/21/2023. As with my other lists, it includes all animals signed and/or observed on public display and excludes off-show/ambassador-only animals. Only live animals are documented. Also, some species could not be cataloged due to ongoing exhibit closures/construction. I also compiled a list on iNaturalist which you can find here -> North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Species List. Nature Exploration Center Notes - This building contains the bulk of the exhibits and live animals, and is more of a traditional museum compared to the research and lab-focused Nature Research Center. 1st Floor - Coastal North Carolina Notes - This is the only exhibit with live animals on the first floor. Animals are grouped by exhibit. Northern Brown Shrimp (Penaeus aztecus) Sailfin Molly (Poecilia latipinna) Striped Killifish (Fundulus majalis) Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) Lookdown (Selene vomer) Spot Croaker (Leiostomus xanthurus) Spotfin Mojarra (Eucinostomus argenteus) (Signed as Silver Mojarra) Blackcheek Tonguefish (Symphurus plagiusa) Northern Seahorse (Hippocampus erectus) (Signed as Lined Seahorse) True Tulip (Fasciolaria tulipa) Belted Sandfish (Serranus subligarius) Brazilian Ocean Surgeonfish (Acanthurus bahianus) Fringed Filefish (Monacanthus ciliatus) Reef Butterflyfish (Chaetodon sedentarius) 2nd Floor - Mountains to the Sea Notes - This exhibit can be viewed from an overlook on the third floor. Animals are grouped by exhibit. Greater Siren (Siren lacertina) Least Killifish (Heterandria formosa) Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) Longnose Gar (Lepisosteus osseus) Warmouth (Lepomis gulosus) Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) Cope's Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis) (Unsigned) Pine Woods Tree Frog (Hyla femoralis) Southern Toad (Anaxyrus terrestris) Squirrel Treefrog (Hyla squirella) Eastern Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis) Broken-striped Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) Banded Sunfish (Enneacanthus obesus) Black-banded Sunfish (Enneacanthus chaetodon) Blue-spotted Sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus) Dusky Shiner (Notropis cummingsae) Cape Fear Shiner (Notropis mekistocholas) Fantail Darter (Etheostoma flabellare) Roanoke Darter (Percina roanoka) Speckled Killifish (Fundulus rathbuni) Tessellated Darter (Etheostoma olmstedi) Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis auritus) Redear Sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) Mountain Redbelly Dace (Chrosomus oreas) Redlip Shiner (Notropis chiliticus) Rosyside Dace (Clinostomus funduloides) Western Blacknose Dace (Rhinichthys obtusus) 3rd Floor - Mountain Cove Notes - This exhibit is thematically connected to the Mountains to the Sea exhibit on the 2nd floor, but is otherwise a distinct gallery. All animals listed here are in separate habitats. Black-bellied Salamander (Desmognathus quadramaculatus) (Not recognized by iNaturalist) Bog Turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) Red Salamander (Pseudotriton ruber) Red-cheeked Salamander (Plethodon jordani) (Signed as Jordan's Salamander) Seal Salamander (Desmognathus monticola) Stripe-necked Musk Turtle (Sternotherus peltifer) (Signed as Sternotherus minor peltifer) 3rd Floor - Snakes of North Carolina Notes - All animals listed here are in separate habitats. Carolina Pygmy Rattlesnake (Sistrurus miliarius) Corn Snake (Pantherophis guttatus) (Signed as Elaphe guttata) Eastern Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platirhinos) Eastern Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula) Eastern Ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) (Signed as Elaphe Obsoleta) Northern Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus) Northern Pine Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus) Plain-bellied Watersnake (Nerodia erythrogaster) (Signed as Red-bellied Watersnake) Rough Greensnake (Opheodrys aestivus) Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) 3rd Floor - Tropical Connections Notes - The poison dart frog exhibit has been closed and covered up since at least the start of the pandemic, although the cover is just transparent enough that you can just barely see that exhibit is still furnished. The signage is also still present, but the species are not on display. I have no idea when they plan reopen this exhibit. Animals are grouped by exhibit. Golden Poison Dart Frog (Phyllobates terribilis) Imitating Poison Frog (Ranitomeya imitator) (Signed as Mimic Poison Frog) Yellow-headed Poison Dart Frog (Dendrobates leucomelas) Emerald Tree Boa (Corallus caninus) Amazonian Mata Mata (Chelus fimbriata) (Signed as Matamata Turtle) Acacia Ant (Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus) 4th Floor - Living Conservatory Notes - This exhibit has been closed since the start of the pandemic and is not reopening until late May 2023. It is a walkthough exhibit and while closed, the animals are still on exhibit and you can see into the exhibit from the outside. This room contains free-flying butterflies, but they will be excluded because I have no reference for them. The others are partially from memory + what I am able to see. Animals are grouped by exhibit. South American Cichlid (Family Cichlidae) (Species not specified) Central American Wood Turtle (Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima) (Signed as Ornate Wood Turtle) Brazilian Black Tarantula (Grammostola pulchra) (Species not specified, listed only as Tarantula, but guides have specifically referred to it as such in the past). Central American Milksnake (Lampropeltis abnorma) (Signed as Milksnake, Lampropeltis triangulum. However, exhibit guides have confirmed it to be a Stuart's Milksnake in the past). Linnaeus's Two-toed Sloth (Choloepus didactylus) 4th Floor - Insect Zoo Notes - Unfortunately, the signage in this gallery is very poor and inconsistent. Species are not always specified, so what I have below is what was signed. All animals listed here are in separate habitats. American Lobster (Homarus americanus) (Signed as Maine Lobster) Unspecified Cambarid Crayfish (Cambaridae) Caribbean Land Hermit Crab (Coenobita clypeatus) (Signed as Hermit Crab) Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) Unspecified Cobweb Spider (Theridiidae) (Signed as Black Widow) Common Emperor Scorpion (Pandinus imperator) Dark Fishing Spider (Dolomedes tenebrosus) Unspecified Darkling Beetle (Tenebrionidae) Desert Ironclad Beetle (Asbolus verrucosus) (Signed as Blue Death Feigning Beetle) Eastern Hercules Beetle (Dynastes tityus) Giant Cave Cockroach (Blaberus giganteus) Giant Leaf Insect (Pulchriphyllium giganteum) (Signed as Phyllium giganteum) Giant Mealworm Beetle (Zophobas atratus) (Signed as Darkling Beetle) Greenhouse Camel Cricket (Tachycines asynamorus) (Signed as Asian Camel Cricket) House Centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata) Large Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa) Unspecified Millipede (Diplopoda) Unspecified Millipede (Sigmoria) Unspecified Periodical Cicada (Magicicada) Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta) Smoky Brown Cockroach (Periplaneta fuliginosa) Southern Two-striped Walkingstick (Anisomorpha buprestoides) Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) Spiny Leaf insect (Extatosoma tiaratum) (Signed as Australian Stick Insect) Unspecified Tarantula (Theraphosidae) Nature Research Center Notes - This building is connected to the Nature Exploration Center via a bridge accessed from the 2nd and 3rd floors. This building mainly focuses on research, and contains exhibits about how reserach is conducted, as well as labs that viewers can look into. The first floor is closed due to construction of the Dueling Dinosaurs exhibit, and this also resulted in the temporary closure of some hands-on exhibits, such as the Naturalist Center. For now, only the 2nd floor contains live animals. The first floor has a saltwater aquarium and at least one viviarium that are currently inaccessible. All animals listed here are in separate habitats with the exception of the millipede and snail. McCord's box turtle (Cuora mccordi) Unspecified Millipede (Sigmoria) Unspecified Snail (Stylommatophora) Black Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae) (Unrecognized by iNaturalist) Eastern Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum) (Signed as Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum) Red Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum syspila) (Unrecognized by iNaturalist) Scarlet Kingsnake (Lampropeltis elapsoides) Tamaulipan Milksnake (Lampropeltis annulata) (Signed as Mexican Milksnake, Lampropeltis triangulum annulata) Zebra Danio (Danio rerio) (Signed as Zebrafish) Unspecified Freshwater Mussel (Unionida) Total Species Count - 108 Species Fish - 33 Reptiles - 27 Insects - 17 Amphibians - 14 Arachnids - 5 Centipedes and Millipedes - 4 Crustaceans - 4 Mollusks - 3 Mammals - 1 Closing Notes - Between the living conservatory closed and the construction of the dueling dinosaurs exhibit (necessitating closure of the first floor and some exhibits above it on the 2nd floor), the museum hasn't been at 100% since the pandemic started, although hopefully that changes this year. Still, most of the exhibits are open and an impressive collection is still found here, even if signage is lacking in some spots. Fish come out on top here, with reptiles close behind. Insects would likely be 2nd or even 1st place if the butterflies were included. I may do an update after the aformentioned exhibits (re)open.
Some interesting stuff mixed in there! I had considered going there on the day I ended up at Museum of Life + Science (friend I was visiting is a member, so free won out ). It's definitely staying on my possibilities list for the future. Do you happen to know if the Virginia Museum of Natural History has any live animals? That was another possibility for me.
Update: During my visit to the museum during their annual Reptile & Amphibian Day event, they actually had The Living Conservatory open, although it was only open during events and still slated to resume normal operations in May. I was able to get a list of the Butterfly species on display. The other animals on display in this exhibit remain the same as noted in the original post. The butterfly species list is as follows. There were 31 species signed. 4th Floor - Living Conservatory - Free-flying Butterflies Band-Celled Sister (Adelpha fessonia) (Signed as Mexican Sister) Banded Orange Heliconian (Dryadula phaetusa) Belus Swallowtail (Battus belus) Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) Blue-Frosted Banner (Catonephele numilia) Common Morpho (Morpho helenor peleides) (Signed as Blue Morpho, Morpho peleides) Cydno Longwing (Heliconius cydno) Doris Longwing (Heliconius doris) Gulf Fritillary (Dione vanillae) Hewitsoni Longwing (Heliconius hewitsoni) Iphidamas Cattleheart (Parides iphidamas) Isabella's Longwing (Eueides isabella) Julia Heliconian (Dryas iulia) Malachite (Siproeta stelenes) Monarch (Danaus plexippus) Pointed Leafwing (Memphis eurypyle) (Not recognized by iNaturalist) Polydamas Swallowtail (Battus polydamas) (Signed as Gold-rimmed Swallowtail) Postman (Heliconius melpomene) Red Cracker (Hamadryas amphinome) Rusty-Tipped Page (Siproeta epaphus) (Signed as Chocolate Page) Silver-Studded Leafwing (Hypna clytemnestra) Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) Starry Night Cracker (Hamadryas laodamia) Tamarind Owl (Opsiphanes cassiae) (Signed as Narrow-banded Owlet, Opsiphanes tamarindi) Tiger Leafwing (Consul fabius) Tiger Longwing (Heliconius hecale) (Signed as Hecale Longwing) True Cattleheart (Parides eurimedes) (Signed as Arcas Cattleheart, Parides arcas) Unspecified Owl Butterfly (Caligo) Variable Cracker (Hamadryas feronia) Whitened Bluewing (Myscelia cyaniris) (Signed as Mexican Bluewing) Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charithonia) Updated Total Species Count - 139 Species Insects - 48 Fish - 33 Reptiles - 27 Amphibians - 14 Arachnids - 5 Centipedes and Millipedes - 4 Crustaceans - 4 Mollusks - 3 Mammals - 1 Closing Notes - This puts insects as the numerically dominant taxon in the museum's species collection. It's actually more than what I expected, since the living conservatory is not a particularly big exhibit at all.
I was lucky enough to be able to see the new temporary exhibit at NC Museum - SPIDERS: FEAR TO FASCINATION. This is separate from the Insect Zoo and located on the second floor, and it also costs money to enter unlike the rest of the museum, although if you have an ASTC passport (which I have, and I STRONGLY suggest anyone doing a zoo-trip to North Carolina invests in one) you can enter for free. Overall, a very well done invertebrate-focused exhibit, one that for me exceeded Museum Of Life & Sciences good invert area. Here is a species list for this section (scientific names only) Hadrurus arizonensis Scolopendra heros Brachypelma albiceps Poecilotheria regalis Lasiodora parahybana Cupiennius salei Barylestis occidentalis Dolomedes okefinokensis Hogna lenta Asianopis aspectans Phiddipus regius Latrodectus hesperus Loxosceles reclusa Kukulcania hibernalis Trichonephila clavipes
Any chance you've ever seen the vivarium down there? I have seen the aquarium in pictures, but haven't been able to find any of a vivarium on the first floor. There was a column aquarium in the "Protecting Freshwater" section at some point
I misspoke when I stated "vivarium"; I distinctly remember a freshwater aquarium down there that held an Amphiuma species (most likely two-toed). It's been years since I've seen it though since that part of the 1st floor of the Nature Research Center has been closed due to construction on the Dueling Dinos exhibit.
A few updates in case you want to update your iNaturalist list as well! Amphibians Yellow-Headed Poison Dart Frog, Golden Poison Dart Frog, and Imitating Poison Frog have all been off-display for at least a year at this point, with no signs of the exhibit having been touched once since then. Still not sure if/when these will go back on display, which is a shame given how nice the artificial work in the exhibit looks. Pine Woods Tree Frogs and Squirrel Tree Frogs are kept in one vivarium, while Cope's Gray Tree Frogs and Southern Toad are kept in another. Black-Bellied Salamander could be listed as "Dusky Salamanders" (Desmognathus sp.) - they also share their exhibit with the Seal Salamander. Snakes Plain-Bellied Water Snake, Northern Pine Snake, Corn Snake, Eastern Rat Snake, and Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake have all been off-display for the past few weeks for exhibit renovations. Great to see them finally work on some of those tiny prison cells, worst part of the facility by far. Black Milk Snakes are currently classified as Lampropeltis micropholis. Emerald Tree Boas are signed wrong, they are actually Corallus batesii, the Amazon Basin species. Marine Fish Ocean Surgeonfish should be listed as Acanthurus tractus since the two species were split. Any in the aquarium trade should be assumed to fall under the new species found in the Caribbean, while Acanthurus bahianus has been limited to the Southwestern Atlantic (off of South America), where specimens are rarely, if ever, collected. Belted Sandfish is no longer on display (I can't recall exactly when it was removed from the exhibit, but the animal and signage were taken out sometime in the past year.) Lookdowns are also off-exhibit, replaced with additional Striped Killifish. Freshwater Fish The cichlids in the Living Conservatory pond are Cryptoheros chetumalensis, and they share their exhibit with Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). Roanoke Darter and Fantail Darter are both off-display, no clue when they were removed but there are no animals or signage left. Redlip Shiners were taken off-exhibit about two weeks ago, with their signage removed. Least Killifish have been signed but off-display for over a year now, my guess is it's safe to say they aren't coming back. A Bowfin (Amia calva) was added to the Beaver Pond exhibit. Bluehead Chubs (Nocomis leptocephalus) were added to the Piedmont Stream exhibit in lieu of Roanoke and Fantail Darters. A small Darter (Etheostomatinae sp.) has been on display for at least a year alongside the Freshwater Mussels, but it's never been signed. Insects Darkling Beetle and Giant Mealworm Beetle can be removed and replaced with Zophobas morio. Cecropia Moths are currently off-display, but unclear if this is permanent or seasonal. Spicebush Swallowtail doesn't have its own exhibit, nor can I recall that being the case since I've visited. Dermestes maculatus are on display in the Nature Research Center. They have a display behind glass in one of the labs, and are usually seen cleaning some type of carcass. Periodical Cicadas are not on display - that exhibit contains replicas, as well as those of a few other species. If it did contain live animals, it doesn't anymore. If it never actually did, interesting choice to include the signage in the way they did Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers (Romalea microptera) have been added to the Arthropod Zoo, in place of the Crayfish tank. Crustaceans Crayfish (Cambaridae sp.) are no longer on display (see above). Thinstripe Hermit Crabs (Clibanarius vittatus) are on display in the Salt Marsh exhibit, on the left side. Unidentified Hermit Crabs (Paguroidea sp.) are on display alongside what are likely Marsh Grass Shrimp (Palaemon vulgaris). Listing the shrimp as Palaemonidae sp. would be appropriate since I'm not 100% on that species-level identification. Other Invertebrates Cobweb Spider can be narrowed down to Latrodectus sp. Sigmoria sp. should be replaced with Apheloria tigana, and I've only seen them in the Arthropod Zoo exhibit. Millipedes (Diplopoda sp.) can be narrowed down to Juliformia sp., and I have only seen them in the Nature Research Center exhibit. Snails (Stylommatophora sp.) can be narrowed down to Helicina sp. As mentioned, the first floor exhibits in the Nature Research Center are still closed for renovations. From all the digging I can do, it seems like the only two down there are that cylindrical Amphiuma tank and a 10,000 gallon saltwater aquarium.
Yep, that's it. It must be an Amphiuma, since they have Greater Sirens in the Nature Exploration Center, and I definitely remember them being different species. Most likely, they are Two-toed Amphiuma (Amphiuma means) as that is the most common species in captivity. Also, thank you very much for the updates. I actually made a quick visit to the museum a few weekends ago (I was in downtown for other reasons), and noticed a few of these changes as well. I am only going to fix a few things with my iNaturalist list, as I usually don't update the lists for removals or additions (I'd rather make a new list on a subsequent visit so I can record the changes). A few things. The poison dart frogs have been off-exhibit far longer than that; since at least 2019-2020. The exhibit has had its furnishings removed, and the paper covering the exhibit is peeled off enough for you to see into it. For the tree frogs, I simply forgot to separate them out on my list. The Black-bellied Salamander was definitely signed as Desmognathus quadramaculatus on my visit. However, iNaturalist does not recognize that species, but IUCN does. You know, after @Coelacanth18 posted the entry on boas in the American Herping thread, I took a trip to the museum to practice photography and became suspicous that their Corallus Tree Boas were in fact of the batesii sp, due to them having a solid line down their back. I updated my iNaturalist list for that and the milksnakes. And I agree that the snake exhibits are by far the weakest part of the facility, but I don't think they can do much to improve them short of just removing the exisiting enclosures and building new ones. Oof, I may have to go back and review all my lists that have fish in regards to the Ocean Surgeonfish split, since I remember every facility that has them signing them as Acanthurus bahianus, when Acanthurus tractus would make more sense (as I usually see these fish in exhibits that depict either the Gulf of Mexico, Carribbean Sea, or the Atlantic seaboard). I added the the Cichlid and Mosquitofish to my list; looks like I forgot the latter. I didn't see the Bowfin on my most recent visit from 3 weeks ago, but I did notice the chub. I'm not going to add those to my list as those are just additions and removals. The swallowtail shared an exhibit with cicadas. This was one of my first species lists and I got a little sloppy with the formatting. The way the cicadas were presented definitely made them seem like they were real, and I remember seeing cicada shells, but a part of my suspected they may be fakes. They have had Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers for a while. The signage in the insect gallery is an absolute mess of missing or unspecified species names. Also, I usually notate what is signed unless I am absolutely certain it's wrong (and I am no insect expert). Yeah, those are the only 2 animal exhibits on the first floor from what I remember.
Agreed, would also make sense given that this is the species found in North Carolina. Still, with the oddball collection this place has, it wouldn't exactly shock me if they pulled a one or three-toed out of somewhere Dang, sucks to hear it's been that long. I've got a few pics that show the inside of that exhibit decently well, the rockwork really is nicely-done. Dart frogs are a must-have in that section, IMO. Would also be interesting to know where the Black-Bellied Salamander on display was collected, so its Latin name could be updated. Quadramaculatus is currently split into Southern (amphileucus), Kanawha (kanawha), Cherokee (gvnigeusgwotli), and Blue Ridge (mavrokoilius) Black-Bellied Salamanders, but without specific collection information it's near impossible to tell which that individual falls under. Emeralds (specifically batesii) are my absolute favorite animals of all time Pretty interesting to see that they have batesii as opposed to caninus - the latter is imported regularly at a few hundred dollars a piece, while the former has been closed to export for quite some time and runs $5,000+ for captive-bred individuals. With a trio of adult basins, they've got an easy $20,000 sitting in that display Agreed on the other snake enclosures, and this is something I'm going to be tackling in my in-depth review (first installment should hopefully be posted tomorrow, I need a few more pics). I'm going to go all-out on that section and draw up a detailed concept for gutting that area and starting over, this time focusing on a few large multi-species exhibits designed to show a Mountain Den, a Longleaf Pine Forest, and a Cypress Swamp. I've had that cooking in my head since the first time I visited this place, so it's exciting to finally start putting it out on paper I'm confident enough to make the assertion that any "Ocean Surgeonfish" in the U.S.A. probably falls under tractus now, instead of bahianus. I don't know of any collection taking place (at least for the captive trade) off of Atlantic South America in quite some time. The Bowfin is definitely a newer addition, you must've just missed him. Awesome little guy, I've got some great shots of him posted in the gallery. He seems to love investigating a camera lens if you just sit still at the edge of the tank for a few minutes I'll grab a picture of that exhibit tomorrow, it's definitely a weird one. I can't wrap my head around why they used the same signage for a diorama as they do for all the live animals in that gallery - my guess is they tried housing those species in there at some point, and given the seasonality of Cicadas I guess it's possible they still do during certain times of year. I definitely remember it being built like it was meant to house live animals, but I'll take a closer look. Definitely agreed on the signage here being quite weak, I really don't understand why they couldn't just signify a species lol. That's one of my biggest gripes about this gallery and something I'll be touching on quite a bit in my review as well (including suggestions of actual species to include).
