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Introduction
The Mollusca collections held at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales contain some 3200 type specimens, around 350 of which are holotypes or lectotypes.
Our earliest holotype is a large cold-water whelk from Alaska, collected in 1778 by Captain James Cook during his third and last voyage. It was brought to England on the HMS Resolution in 1780 and described by Thomas Martyn in his beautifully illustrated book Universal Conchologist in 1784.
This website aims to make these important specimens and the associated data available to a wide audience, including systematists and collectors.
The database currently contains full reference information, collection information, label scans and specimen images for many of our holotypes and lectotypes. We also indicate whether we have a scanned pdf of the original published description, available on request. The database will be kept up to date with newly designated or newly recognised holotypes and lectotypes, and we will periodically add syntypes.
Many of the original names have since been synonymised and we are in the process of adding current names, with reference to where the information has been sourced. We have used a mixture of printed literature and web based sites for this.
If you are looking for type material which does not appear on this database please search our full collections database. The specimen you are looking for may simply not have been researched or recognised as a type yet.
Please contact Harriet Wood (Mollusca Collections Manager) if you have any queries about our collections or if you wish to borrow material or high quality images for publication.
Website Citation
This website should be cited as:
Wood, H. & Turner, J. A. 2012. Mollusca Types Catalogue. Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales. Available online at http://naturalhistory.museumwales.ac.uk/molluscatypes. [ Accessed: ].
Copyright
This website including all data and images is protected by copyright belonging to Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales. Neither text nor images can be downloaded for other than personal use without the written permission of the Museum. The Museum will vigorously pursue any illegal use of the contents of this website.