Mollusca collections

image of colourful land snail shells with black background

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.

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The collections are being digitised and are accessible via the Data Portal.

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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)