The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ invertebrate collection is comprised of three units: millipedes and centipedes, freshwater and marine crustaceans and mollusks. This collection consists of more than 50,000 catalogued lots totaling more than 641,000 specimens and is actively growing. Collections acquired in 1996 from the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences have added strength to the Museum’s invertebrate collection in the areas of marine crustaceans and brackish and marine mollusks. The Museum’s millipede collection is of international significance, including a major series of Sigmoria.

The Museum’s crustacean collection contains approximately 9,000 lots containing approximately 96,000 specimens. Research emphasis is on freshwater decapods, especially crayfishes. At 26,000 specimens, the crayfish collection is one of the largest in the Southeast, and contains many type specimens.

The Museum’s mollusk unit’s current research emphasis is on freshwater mollusks, especially freshwater bivalves. Collection composition is 83% freshwater species (mussels, fingernail clams and snails), 10% marine species and 7% terrestrial species (snails). Our collection consists of three parts: the Museum’s historical collection (prior to 1996) of about 3,500 lots or approximately 20,000 specimens, the former Institute of Marine Sciences’ (IMS) collection of about 25,000 lots containing an estimated 233,000 specimens and the Herbert D. Athearn, Museum of Fluviatile Mollusks Collection containing approximately 25,000 lots and an estimated 300,000 specimens. Athearn’s collection was the largest privately held collection of freshwater mollusks in the country. The IMS collection includes Hugh Porter’s collection of marine and brackish water mollusks of North Carolina.

Online Publications:

• Workbook and Key to the Freshwater Bivalves of North Carolina (PDF, 2.8 MB)
• Color Plates (PDF, 3.3 MB)
• Crayfish checklists and keys
• Atlas of North Carolina Crayfishes (PDF, 9.2 MB)
• North American Centipede Species List and Distribution Maps

Staff

Staff Web Pages:

• Art Bogan, Curator of Aquatic Invertebrates
• John Cooper, Curator of Crustaceans
• Rowland Shelley, Curator of Terrestrial Invertebrates
• Jamie M Smith, Collections Manager of Invertebrates
• Morgan Raley, Research Associate

Links

• Bugbios – Insects on the Web
• Centre International de Myriapodologie
• Conchologist of America
• Crayfish Photos by Whitney Stocker
• Crayfish World USA
• Discover Life
• Ohio State University, Museum of Biological Diversity
• International Commission on Zoological
• IUCN - The World Conservation Union
• Malacolog 4.1, Western Atlantic Ocean Marine Mollusks
• Missouri State University Unio Gallery
• Mollusk Bibliography Database
• Needs in the Management of Freshwater Mussels in the National Park System
• Nomenclator Zoologicus
• North American Millipedes and Centipedes
• North Carolina Shell Club
• North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Crayfish Website
• North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Freshwater Mussel Website
• Sphaeriidae of North America
• The American Malacological Society
• The Crayfish Homepage
• The Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society
• Unionid Researchers
• Unitas Malacologica
• University of Florida Book of Insect Records
• USGS nonindigenous mollusks introduced into the United States