Crustacea - Collection
Currently, the Crustacea Collection comprises more than 850.000 objects representing approximately 7.200 species from all over the world. The collection holds more than 58.000 catalogue numbers. More than 1.700 species are reflected in the ca. 6.300 individuals being registered as type material which makes it one of the largest and most important collections o of crustaceans in Germany.
Around 90 percent of the species in the collection come from marine environments (especially from the southern hemisphere) whereas the rest is represented by freshwater, terrestrial and even fossil material. The collection comprises more than 350 crustacean families with ca. 2.100 genera. Particularly numerous are the the Malacostraca (higher crustaceans), specially the Amphipoda (ca. 250.000 specimens) and Isopoda (ca. 170.000). The Decapoda are represented by ca. 30.000 individuals. Among the other crustacean groups the Copepoda (ca. 260.000) and Ostracoda (25.000) are most numerous.
The Ostracoda form the largest type collection with 739 type specimens, followed by the Isopoda (369), the Amphipoda (195) and the Cumacea (120). A systematic focus is set on several groups of the Peracarida (Amphipoda, Isopoda, Cumacea), Decapoda and Copepoda, with a geographical focus on taxa from the Southern Ocean and various deep-sea basins. Due to the large number of important type materials, the Crustacea Collection is frequently visited by guest researchers from all over the world. For this reason, material is also regularly loaned to research institutes inside and outside Germany.
