Science

DEPARTMENT OF INVERTEBRATES

Collections | Staff

The Department of Invertebrates includes

Terrestrial Invertebrates (Arachnology, Entomology),
Parasitic Worms (Helminthology),
and Marine Invertebrates.

TERRESTRIAL INVERTEBRATES

SPIDERS, MITES & SCORPIONS Arachnology

INFORMATION:

Collection size: Spiders - 50 000 specimens in alcohol, Mites - 25 000 slide mounts and 20 000 specimens in alcohol, Scorpions - 5000 specimens in alcohol.

Collection specialties: Many types of spiders. Numerous types of mites from Womersley, Southcott, Domrow and Lee, plus others.

Current research projects: Australian Heteropodidae (Huntsman spiders) ongoing.
Handbook on South Australian spiders for Handbooks Committee.

DATA: Not yet available on computer.

INSECTS Entomology

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INFORMATION:

The collection has Australia wide and Indo Pacific representation plus some world specimens for comparative purposes. The collection comprises 1 100 000 pinned specimens, 450 000 specimens in spirit and 20 000 slides. There are 8480 holotypes of which 5000 are from the A.M. Lea beetle collection. There are 23 000 other types. The collection includes insects and myriapods only. Special collections include A.M. Lea, T. Blackburn and S. Barker (Coleoptera); O.B. Lower, F. Angel, N. McFarland, N.B. Tindale, R.H. Fisher, P.B. McQuillan (Lepidoptera); A.A. Girault and A.P. Dodd (Microhymenoptera); R.H. Mew and A.J. McArthur (Hymenoptera-Formicidae); D. Paton and L. Jansen (Hymenoptera-Apoidea). All collections are integrated. The dry insect collection is housed in 150 cabinets each with 50 drawers, specimens are in unit trays. Spirit collection is housed in vials and bottles in wooden cabinets; slides in 900 slide boxes on shelves.

DATA: Not available on computer.

IDENTIFICATIONS

PARASITIC WORMS Helminthology

INFORMATION:

Collection size: approx. 33 000 registered specimen lots.

Collection focus: parasitic worms, mainly from the Phyla Nematoda (roundworms), Platyhelminthes (flukes and tapeworms) and Acanthocephala (thorny-headed worms).

Current research projects: Acanthocephalans of fish.

DATA:

Fields in the Australian Helminthological Collection's database include name of parasite, host, locality, collector, date collected, donor, identifier, storage method, type status and notes. Currently, searches can be done on parasite and host, eg. a list of the parasites registered in S.A. Museum from species of Rattus can be given. No charges for bona fide researchers with reasonable data requests. Fees for commercial use of Museum data exist and can be discussed with the curator.

MARINE INVERTEBRATES

INFORMATION:

The collections of 'Marine Invertebrates' are currently represented by 23 phyla and hold more than 1 million of specimen lots which included 1700 holotypes, 11300 secondary types, 33000 registered lots and 1400 microscope slide preparations.

The collections also hold about 3,500 colour slides of living marine invertebrates. In most cases the animal was collected and preserved after being photographed in its natural habitat. The specimens are preserved in either alcohol (75%)/formalin (10%) or dried and placed in drawers.

The South Australian Museum holds one of the most significant historical collections of Australian molluscs in the world. In addition, historical and recent collections from southern Australia, the arid zone, Tasmania, New Zealand and Antarctica, mean that the SAM collections of 'marine invertebrates' are considered to be one of the more important collections in Australia.

The collections are not entirely marine, some groups such as Protozoans, Molluscs, Annelids and Crustaceans having representatives on both land and in freshwater. For example the land snail collection is one of the finest in Australia having thousands of representatives from around the world as well as unique examples of species found solely in South Australia (Flinders Ranges).

Collection size: about 1 million specimen lots

Collection specialties: Molluscs, Ascidians, Crustaceans, Echinoderms, Bryozoans, Sipuncula, Echiura, Cnidarians (jellyfish and corals)

Current research projects: Worldwide taxonomic revision of pelagic amphipods (Hyperiidae)

DATA: None computerised.