Southern California Tar Pits

The UCMP houses insect and other arthropod remains from the Rancho La Brea and Mckittrick asphalt seeps located in southern California. To date, 972 specimens have been databased and 1,631 high resolution jpeg images are available on the Calphotos website. The number of databased McKittrick insects will increase in the future from the recent discovery of additional bulk asphalt material found in the UCMP collection.