Introduction to the checklists of the vertebrates of Western Australia

INTRODUCTION This publication of the Western Australian Museum presents, for the first time, a comprehensive listing of the vertebrate animals recorded from Western Australia and the surrounding seas. The publication is primarily designed to satisfy a growing demand for an authoritative listing of Western Australian vertebrates for 'official' governmental usage. However, it is also intended to satisfy a wider audience who may require information of various kinds regarding the fauna of the state, including students at all levels, fellow taxonomists and members of the public with a special interest in our uniquely fascinating native vertebrate fauna. . The task of preparing and maintaining regional fauna checklists has long fallen to museums around the world. This reflects the concentration in museums not only of the vast bulk of the world's fauna collections, but also a sizeable proportion of its community of taxonomic specialists. The Western Australian Museum, established in 1891, is by world standards, a relatively new institution. However, its collection of almost 300,000 regionallyderived vertebrate specimens, representing more than 4600 taxa, has few equals in either size or diversity. The Western Australian Museum's history of contribution to vertebrate taxonomy is also highly distinguished, coloured by the careers of such prolific vertebrate taxonomists as Ludwig Glauert, Glen M. Storr, Gerald R. Allen and Darrell J. Kitchener. The present series of Checklists are dedicated to the labours of these former staff members, who between them laid much of the foundation of our current understanding of vertebrate diversity in Western Australia.