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Mollusca collections
The Mollusca collection is one of the most comprehensive and significant in the world, constantly in demand by the malacological research community.
The type collection is the most scientifically important of its kind.
Specimen numbers
Specimens
8,000,000
Type specimens
66,000
The non-marine (terrestrial and freshwater) gastropod and bivalve molluscs collections are the most geographically diverse and historically important in the world, spanning the late 18th to the mid-20th centuries.
With over 3,500 contributors, the mollusc collections have strong holdings of European, Eastern and Southern African, Indian, Southeast Asian (especially Burma) and Australian material. Recent comprehensive land snail collections have been made in Vietnam and Sri Lanka.
Early acquisitions were mollusca collections donated from the Royal Society, the Rev. Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode, the Earl of Tankerville, Joseph Banks and William John Broderip. These resulted in the bequest of specimens from the Duchess of Portland, the Duke of Calonne and material from Captain James Cook’s voyages to the South and North Pacific.
Collection strengths
- Deep-sea material.
- Material from Europe, Indo-Pacific, Australia, South Africa, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, India and the Caribbean.
- Land snail collections from India and Southeast Asia.
Breakdown of specimens by class
- Non-marine Gastropoda: 3,000,000 (wet, dry)
- Marine Gastropoda 2,312,500 (wet, dry)
- Bivalvia: 1,500,000 (wet, dry)
- Cephalopoda: 56,000 (wet, dry)
- Small classes (Polyplacophora, Scaphopoda, Monoplacophora, Aplacophora): 110,000 (wet, dry)
Important historical collections
- Hugh Cuming collection (~83,000 specimens, purchased 1866)
- Alcide d.Orbigny collection (South America, Cuba, Canary Islands)
- Robert and Vernon McAndrew collections
- William Thomas and Henry Francis Blanford collections
- Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen collection
- Sir Hans Sloane collection
- Joseph Banks collection (including specimens collected on HMS Endeavour)
- Rev. Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode collection (including shells collected on Cook's voyages)
- William John Broderip collection
- Thomas Pennant collection (17th century United Kingdom)
- Ronald Winckworth collection (Indian Ocean)
Expedition material
- HMS Challenger (global oceanographic mission 1872-1876)
- HMS Porcupine (UK waters 1868-1870)
- HMS Lightning (UK waters 1868-1870)
- HMS Discovery (Antarctic Investigations 1925-1928)
Curator (non-marine Gastropoda, Cephalopoda)
Jon Ablett
If you would like to use any specimens for research, please get in touch with Jon.
Curator (marine Gastropoda & Mollusca historical collections)
Andreia Salvador
If you would like to use any specimens for research, please get in touch with Andreia.
Curator (Bivalvia, Scaphopoda, Polyplacophora, small molluscan classes)
Dr Tom S. White
If you would like to use any specimens for research, please get in touch with Tom.
Specialist reference library
The Mollusca library has over 50,000 volumes of dedicated literature.
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.