Curation project
Eunoe nodosa a type specimen in our collection, the kidney shaped scales have fallen off the dorsum and the worm has been dissected to remove a sample of parapodia (in vial). Both the bristles on the parapodia and the scales are important when identifying scale worms (polynoidae) and are kept safely together with the worm for future study. © Harry Taylor
Polychaete 'type' collection
The National polychaete collection is held at the Museum and holds 2,170 polychaete 'type' specimens.
A 'type' specimen is an individual which holds the species name, with all future specimens referring back to the type description.
Each specimen is given a reference number when it is placed in the national collection. For example the reference number for the E. nodosa type specimen shown here is 1865.3.9.34
- visit the Natural History Museum Zoology specimen database
- put this number into the reference box for more details on this specimen such as
- when it was accepted into the collection
- where it was collected from
Photography of the polychaete 'type' collection
Many of our polychaete type specimens are now very old, for example over 20% are from the 1800s, a large number of these are Challenger expedition material.
To improve accessibility to the polychaete type collection the museum has started a project to photograph the entire collection and make it available online. 10% of the project has been completed and we hope to have the complete polychaete collection available online in 5 years time.
The project will enable
- researchers to
- access images on demand through our KE EMu database
- inspect the specimens
- assess whether borrowing the material is appropriate or necessary
- members of the public to
- access our wet collections (formalin or alcohol preserved)
- the public cannot normally access this material.