Collection

The mollusc collection houses approximately 1 million specimens of Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Cephalopoda, Polyplacophora, and Scaphopoda. The collected specimens are listed in the collection database AQUiLA.

The material originates from world-wide distributed localities with a special focus on Central Europe, South East Asia, the Russian Far East, Western Africa, and the Caribbean. 

Historical important material is that of Theodor & Paul Reibisch (Dresden), Kurt Büttner (Zwickau), and Arthur Schlechter (Kamenz), which provides the probably most important archive of Saxonian land- and freshwater molluscs, completed by a substantial collection of freshwater pearl mussels.

An important part of our collection is comprised by that of Hermann Eduard Anton from Halle. In 1838, he described a number of new species in the publication of his inventory. The collection was regarded lost for a long time. Since 1995, publications on the type material are being published.