About our collections

Introduction

The zoological collections contain close to four million specimens divided between entomological collections (insects, myriapods and spiders), vertebrates and remaining invertebrates.

History and present state

The collections are primarily based on animals collected during expeditions in various parts of the world as well as from donations. The oldest collections of the department date back to the 18th century, but much of the material comes from Swedish expeditions conducted in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century. The collections continuously expand through both donated specimens and extensive fieldwork by the museum's own researchers in Sweden and abroad.

The collections as a research infrastructure

The zoological collections contain tens of thousands of type specimens, i.e., collected specimens on which new species descriptions are based. These specimens are often borrowed, photographed, and studied by researchers from around the world. New type specimens are continually added by the museum's own researchers, who describe an average of over 100 new species each year. It is now standard practice to sequence DNA from collection items, which can address questions ranging from forensic to evolutionary and conservation biology inquiries. Questions about temporal trends, population changes, distribution, or exposure to environmental toxins are other examples of research studies that our collections contribute to. A growing trend is to sequence the entire genetic material (genome) of a species from museum specimens, giving rise to a research field known as 'museomics' in English.

Digitalisation

Zoological objects registered in our database are regularly published on the museum's collection page. Currently, approximately one-fifth of all items are digitally registered and searchable. We continuously work on registering both old items and newly acquired materials for our collections. Objects that are not yet available digitally are often listed in handwritten catalogs, card indexes, and species lists, facilitating searchability in the non-digitized collections.