Non-Molluscan Invertebrate Unit
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
The Non-Molluscan Invertebrate Collection
Invertebrates comprise an overwhelming majority of global diversity. As such, the opportunities to explore this diversity through collections are seemingly endless.
The majority holdings in the NCSM Non-Molluscan Invertebrate Collection are crustaceans, a highly diverse and species-rich group of arthropods that includes lobsters, shrimp, crabs, barnacles, fish lice, roly polies, and so much more. Crayfishes comprise the most active and growing component of the Collection. A focus has historically been, and continues to be, crayfishes of North Carolina and the Southeastern United States, but current research projects have greatly extended geographic, and thus taxonomic, scope to areas of the North American Interior Plains and Pacific and Intermountain West.
Because the primary research focus of the Non-Molluscan Invertebrate Unit is on crayfishes AND their ectosymbionts, it is not surprising that these crayfish associates also comprise a large and rapidly growing component of the Collection. The Collection includes several thousand ostracod specimens [seed shrimp; crustaceans] representing dozens of species in the family Entocytheridae. Also housed in the Collection are more than 60,000 branchiobdellidans [crayfish worms; annelids] representing nearly 90 species from across the Holarctic.
The Collection is home to several thousand lots of marine specimens, largely a result of acquisitions from the University of North Carolina's Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS), Charleston Museum, and Duke University Marine Lab. As a result of the amalgamation of these acquisitions, the Collection is one of the most important Mid-Atlantic-focused marine [non-molluscan] invertebrate collections.
Additional substantial holdings in the Collection include annelids (polychaetes and clitellates) and non-crustacean arthropods (i.e., myriapods and a limited selection of insects). Minor holdings include representatives of numerous other phyla, including, but not limited to, poriferans, echinoderms, cnidarians, phoronids, brachiopods, nematodes, nematomorphs, platyhelminths, chaetognaths, bryozoans, entoprocts, nemerteans, ctenophores, onychophorans, hemichordates...
Our goal is to make the NCSM Non-Molluscan Invertebrate Collection accessible to both the research community and general public, albeit with a slightly different focus for each. Digitization efforts for much of the Collection are only just beginning, so please contact us if you have questions about holdings. As part of our outreach and education initiative, we have teamed up with the NCSM Invertebrate Paleontology Collection to highlight closely related fossil and modern taxa housed in the two Collections. Some of these fossil-modern pairings will appear in the galleries below. Look for images to be added and/or rotate through these galleries over time. Also, if interested in learning more about invertebrates at the NCSM (research, outreach, etc.) , check out the NCSM Invertebrates Facebook page.
Follow us on Twitter @BWWilliamsLab
The majority holdings in the NCSM Non-Molluscan Invertebrate Collection are crustaceans, a highly diverse and species-rich group of arthropods that includes lobsters, shrimp, crabs, barnacles, fish lice, roly polies, and so much more. Crayfishes comprise the most active and growing component of the Collection. A focus has historically been, and continues to be, crayfishes of North Carolina and the Southeastern United States, but current research projects have greatly extended geographic, and thus taxonomic, scope to areas of the North American Interior Plains and Pacific and Intermountain West.
Because the primary research focus of the Non-Molluscan Invertebrate Unit is on crayfishes AND their ectosymbionts, it is not surprising that these crayfish associates also comprise a large and rapidly growing component of the Collection. The Collection includes several thousand ostracod specimens [seed shrimp; crustaceans] representing dozens of species in the family Entocytheridae. Also housed in the Collection are more than 60,000 branchiobdellidans [crayfish worms; annelids] representing nearly 90 species from across the Holarctic.
The Collection is home to several thousand lots of marine specimens, largely a result of acquisitions from the University of North Carolina's Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS), Charleston Museum, and Duke University Marine Lab. As a result of the amalgamation of these acquisitions, the Collection is one of the most important Mid-Atlantic-focused marine [non-molluscan] invertebrate collections.
Additional substantial holdings in the Collection include annelids (polychaetes and clitellates) and non-crustacean arthropods (i.e., myriapods and a limited selection of insects). Minor holdings include representatives of numerous other phyla, including, but not limited to, poriferans, echinoderms, cnidarians, phoronids, brachiopods, nematodes, nematomorphs, platyhelminths, chaetognaths, bryozoans, entoprocts, nemerteans, ctenophores, onychophorans, hemichordates...
Our goal is to make the NCSM Non-Molluscan Invertebrate Collection accessible to both the research community and general public, albeit with a slightly different focus for each. Digitization efforts for much of the Collection are only just beginning, so please contact us if you have questions about holdings. As part of our outreach and education initiative, we have teamed up with the NCSM Invertebrate Paleontology Collection to highlight closely related fossil and modern taxa housed in the two Collections. Some of these fossil-modern pairings will appear in the galleries below. Look for images to be added and/or rotate through these galleries over time. Also, if interested in learning more about invertebrates at the NCSM (research, outreach, etc.) , check out the NCSM Invertebrates Facebook page.
Follow us on Twitter @BWWilliamsLab
Help out from the comfort of your home
Interested in learning more about the organisms “behind the scenes” in the Museum’s collections? Intrigued by the prospect of playing a key role in making the data associated with these organisms accessible to researchers and public alike? We have just launched two invertebrate-based projects on the website CitSciScribe, focusing on recently acquired, historically important collections from the Charleston Museum and Duke Marine Lab.
I invite all of you fellow invertebrate enthusiasts to join us in our efforts to digitize the Museum’s invertebrate collections!!! For more information and to begin transcribing, go to http://citsciscribe.org |
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Contact Us
For questions about the NCSM Non-Molluscan Invertebrate Collection, please contact the Research Curator, Bronwyn Williams either through the form on the 'Who we are' page, by email at [email protected], or phone at 919.707.8862, or the Collections Manager, Raquel Fagundo by email at [email protected], or phone at 919.707.9957.