The Annelida collection was established in November 2019 to unite the mainly marine "Polychaeta" collection and the mainly terrestrial and freshwater Oligochaeta and Hirudinea collection, which were historically split between two invertebrate collections at the Museum für Naturkunde Hamburg. Due to revisions of the annelid classification in the last ten years, the collection now also includes the former phyla Echiura and Sipuncula.
The collection is of global importance and contains important type collections for Oligochaeta (earthworms) and Polychaeta (marine Annelida). In total, the collection comprises around 170,000 specimens, most of which are preserved in ethanol.
The collection of terrestrial and freshwater annelids comprises around 1,500 type specimens, representing more than 20 per cent of the world's known species diversity of earthworms. The centrepiece of this collection are the specimens collected by Johann Wilhelm Michaelsen in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The collection of marine annelids comprises more than 2,000 type specimens, making it one of the most important type collections in the world. The types represent species described by Ernst Ehlers, Hermann Augener, Gesa Hartmann-Schröder and many others.
The geographical focus of the collection on the deep sea, the poles and the southern hemisphere can be traced back to the intensive sampling in these areas by the former curators Johann Wilhelm Michaelsen, Gesa Hartmann-Schröder and Angelika Brandt. The collection continues to grow through new field collections and donations from researchers from all over the world.
Related collections
Projects
Integrative Systematik und Taxonomie der Chaetopteridae
Management: Dr. Jenna Moore
Publications
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2024/3
Gesa Hartmann-Schröder (1931–2022): a leading polychaete systematist
2022/12
Nachruf Dr. habil. Gesa Hartmann-Schröder 1931-2022
2022/11
The Weird and Wonderful World of Worms
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2022/7
Oil disturbance reduces infaunal family richness but does not affect phylogenetic diversity
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