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The collections are being digitised and are accessible via the Data Portal.
Lepidoptera collections
Colias croceus
The Lepidoptera collection is one of the oldest and largest, and it contains the most type specimens.
The collection contains 12.5 million pinned specimens and one million papered specimens housed in 80,000 drawers. There are 125,000 type specimens.
The Lepidoptera specimens are divided into two separate collections, British/Irish and international.
International collection
The collection is comprehensive in its geographical coverage. Particularly well-represented areas include:
- Africa
- India
- Southeast Asia
- Australasia
This collection includes taxa described by Bates, Bethune-Baker, Boisduval, Butler, Evans, Fabricius, Felder, Fruhstorfer, Hampson, Inoue, Jordan, Leech, Meyrick, Oberthur, Prout, Rothschild, Walker, Walsingham, Wileman and Zeller.
British and Irish collection
Includes collections from Bankes, Chalmers-Hunt, Cockayne, Emmet, Ford, Goater, Jacobs, Kettlewell, Rothschild, Stainton, Stephens, Watson and West.
Material types
Specimens are carefully preserved in a variety of ways:
- dried specimens mounted on pins - the majority of adult Lepidoptera
- microscope slides - dissected body parts (e.g. genitalia), wing preparations or whole bodies
- preserved in fluid, especially Lepidoptera larvae
Lepidoptera collections team
Geoff Martin: Principal Curator in Charge
Principal Curator: Dr Blanca Huertas
Alessandro Giusti: Senior Curators
Dr David Lees: Senior Curators
Robyn Crowther: Curator
Richard O’Brien: Curatorial Assistants
Contact the curator
If you have any questions or would like to use specimens for research, please get in touch.
British reference collection
A British reference collection can be found at the Angela Marmount Centre for UK Biodiversity
Learn more about the collections
Accessing the collections
Find out how to arrange a visit to the collections and access specimens for research.
Collections management
Find out how we fulfil our duty to provide a safe and secure environment for the collections in our care.
Collections on the move
Discover how we are preparing for the UK’s largest collections move and which collections will have limited access.