Sammlung Arachnologie
Dr. Peter Jäger in the centre of the spider collection.

Arachnology

Collection

Spiders and their relatives (Arachnida): Main collections in spiders, harvestmen, scorpions, and camel spiders, contains more than 74,400 series identified to species level (all in online database SeSam and Aquila); More than 7000 primary type series and 5000 secondary type series. – Worth mentioning: collection Carl Friedrich Roewer; collection Hermann Wiehle.

Mites and ticks (Acari) (included in Arachnida!): Emphasis on water mites (Hydrachnellae and Halacaridae), in total about 17000 series identified to species level; about 1700 holotypes and 1400 paratype series. – Worth mentioning: collection Karl Viets and Kurt Otto Viets.

Millipedes (Myriapoda): About 6700 series identified to species level, about 450 holotypes and 880 paratype series.

The library of the arachnology section contains taxonomic literture on arachnids from the beginning in 1757 to ca. 1965 almost complete, from the subsequent years not complete, but still well equipped (e.g., Treviranus). The literature on fresh water mites up to the 1990’s is almost complete. Additonally are stored original drawings and sketches by Strand, Järvi and other arachnologists.

In the course of the project “type registering of natural history collections” all types of arachnids were registered in the years 2003  to 2005 and are available as primary data on biodiversity for specialists around the world via the Internet. The project runs in the framework of GBIF  International (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) and is financially supported by the BMBF . Special thanks for making taxon lists available is due to Joel Hallan.