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Invertebrate Collections
The Canadian Museum of Nature's extensive Invertebrate Collections include specimens that date back to the mid-19th century. There are at least 930,000 lots, representing more than 6.7 million specimens of annelids, molluscs, crustaceans, insects, parasites and general invertebrates. In addition, large quantities of mostly unsorted samples, representing faunal assemblages from various ecosystems, have been acquired and preserved.
Our Annelid Collection provides a good representation of marine polychaetes, freshwater leeches and oligochaetes with more than 25,000 lots, mostly from Canada, including the Arctic regions.
The Museum's Mollusc Collection is the largest, most comprehensive collection of molluscs in Canada. Our 126,000 lots are divided into three sections: shell collection, wet collection and the cephalopod collection. Overall, it represents more than 350 families, collected in over 12 countries and numerous oceans.
Dating back to the 1800s, our Crustacean Collection contains specimens associated with the exploration and development of Canada. Gammaridea, Caprellidea, Isopoda, Hyperiidea and Mysidacea are the major groups found in the collection, which totals 84,889 lots.
Our Insect Collection houses over 500,000 specimens, nearly all of which are beetles. Scarabaeidae and Curculioniodea are particularly well-represented. Geographic areas of representation include North, Central, and South America, Australia, and South Africa.
Our Parasite Collection, which holds 50,000 lots, contains large numbers of specimens from the Institute of Parasitology (McGill University) and the former Arctic Biological Station (Fisheries and Oceans Canada).
Nature's General Invertebrate collection contains groups such as the cnidarians, various free-living helminths and non-segmented worms, and the general invertebrates. Most of our 55,000 lots of echinoderms are from Canadian aquatic and terrestrial habitats, including the Canadian Arctic.
Our Faunal Assemblage Collection was established in 1982 to recognize the importance of preserving orphaned collections of unsorted plankton and benthos. At present, the collection contains 200,000 lots, with at least 2.5 million unidentified specimens.
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