The Marine Invertebrates collection encompasses invertebrates with the exception of insects and spiders. It includes crabs, sea spiders, lobsters, isopods, sponges, corals, worms, molluscs, echinoderms, protozoans and some non-vertebrate chordates.
There are over 1 200 000 specimens in the collection, including several thousand type specimens. The mollusc collection, which includes shells, comprises over 800 000 lots and is of international significance.
Significant items
- The crustacea collection is notable for its extreme diversity and the large numbers of species. It is representative of many, but not all, environmental habitats, geographical areas and systematic groups.
- The shell collection has an excellent representation of the Australian fauna as well as comparative worldwide material. Established in the 1850s with purchases of overseas collections, it including types and important reference specimens described by early European authors such as Adams, Cuming and Reeve.
- Gatliff (1935) and Gabriel (1962) shell collections, which included a comprehensive representation of the Victorian molluscs along with extensive non-Australian material.
- Southeast Australian deep-water (slope) molluscs, Antarctic and sub-Antarctic holdings.
- Cephalopod mollusc collection, collected by C C Lu, is of international importance.
- Foraminiferan type collection, with specimens described by Collins and Parr.
- Sponge collections of Bracebridge, Wilson and Dendy.
- Bale and Trebilcock hydroid collections, along with BANZARE (exBMNH) Antarctic hydroids.
- Baldwin Spencer earthworm collections, Giant Gippsland earthworm specimens, polychaetes from Western Port and Port Phillip surveys.
- Comprehensive Victorian, Tasmanian, Antarctic and sub-Antarctic, and SE Australian slope echinoderm collection.
- Macgillivray (1895) and Maplestone (1902) Bryozoa collections.