NHMD Invertebrate Zoology Collection

Registered invertebrates (excluding entomology) in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Denmark. These collections encompass 33 phyla, most of them primarily or exclusively marine. The most important phyla (in terms of degree of registration) are: Annelida (especially Polychaeta, marine bristleworms), Arthropoda (Crustacea), Cnidaria, Cycliophora (ring bearers), Echinodermata, Kinorhyncha (mud dragons), Loricifera (corset animals), Mollusca, Nematoda, Platyhelminthes (especially Cestoda, tapeworms), Porifera, Priapulida (penis worms), Rotifera and Tardigrada.

The collections are global in scope, with particular strenghs in Scandinavia, the North Atlantic, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, West Africa, southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The oldest lots date back to the late 18th century, but the bulk was collected in the late 19th century and during the 20th century.

The invertebrate collection (excluding entomology) consists of eight curatorial units which as of 2019 is staffed by two curators (Jørgen Olesen and Martin Vinther Sørensen) and three collection managers (Laura Pavesi, Tom Schiøtte and Danny Eibye-Jacobsen). The curatorial units (with number of registered lots as of January 2019 and link to description of unit in parentheses) are:

MOLLUSCA (9,740) (https://samlinger.snm.ku.dk/en/dry-and-wet-collections/zoology/mollusca-collection/)

ECHINODERMATA (1,913) (https://samlinger.snm.ku.dk/en/dry-and-wet-collections/zoology/echinodermata---tentaculata/)

CRUSTACEA (11,993) (https://samlinger.snm.ku.dk/en/dry-and-wet-collections/zoology/crustacea/)

VERMES = Annelida, Echiura, Sipuncula and Chaetognatha (2,711) (https://samlinger.snm.ku.dk/en/dry-and-wet-collections/zoology/vermes-collection/)

PORIFERA (465) (https://samlinger.snm.ku.dk/en/dry-and-wet-collections/zoology/porifera-collection/)

CNIDARIA-CTENOPHORA (5,964) (https://samlinger.snm.ku.dk/en/dry-and-wet-collections/zoology/cnidaria-ctenophora/)

PROTOZOA (12) (https://samlinger.snm.ku.dk/en/dry-and-wet-collections/zoology/protozoa-collection/)

PLATYHELMINTHES-"ASCHELMINTHES"-PROTOARTHROPODA (13,660) (https://samlinger.snm.ku.dk/en/dry-and-wet-collections/zoology/platyhelminthes-aschelminthes-proarthropoda-collections/).

The following groups (mostly phyla) are of minor importance (only in terms of number of registered lots), have a total of 384 registered lots, and are not encompassed by the preceding eight curatorial units: Brachiopoda, Bryozoa, Enteropneusta, Entoprocta, Myxozoa, Myzozoa, Nemertea, Onychophora, Phoronida and Tunicata.

The majority of the registered lots in the invertebrate (excluding entomology) collection are available for study here, but some have been removed for various reasons (sensitive data, incomplete records, pending publication, etc.).