Coleoptera collection

The Museum’s collection of Coleoptera includes approximately 22,000 drawers of specimens.

The Museum's collection is among the oldest and most important in the world and includes the collections of Sir Joseph Banks, dating back to the 18th century.

A box from the Hugues Bomans stag beetle collection.

The Coleoptera collection includes type material of almost 100,000 species, including types from:

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)
David Sharp (1840-1922)
George C. Champion (1859-1927)
George R. Waterhouse (1810-1888)
Charles O. Waterhouse (1843-1917)
Rev. Thomas Blackburn (1844-1912)
Thomas Broun (1838-1919)
Francis Polkinghorne Pascoe (1813-1893)
Henry Walter Bates (1825-1892)
George Lewis (1829-1926) and many others

Around 5000 beetles from Charles Darwin's Beagle Voyage are present and material from the Biologia Centrali Americana.

Electronic Biologia Centrali-Americana

Recent acquisitions include the Hugues Bomans collection of stag beetles and the Voříšek collection of weevils.

Access to the collections

The Museum welcomes visitors to the collections. Find out how to book as visit and who to contact here.
British collections

Learn which major collections are held in the separate British Coleoptera collection.
Geographical coverage

The Museum's collection is from all over the world, but there are areas better represented than others.