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Click here to visit the online database for type and figured specimens 

 

Of all the treasures housed in large museums of natural history, only a small fraction is shown to the public. Most of them are stored in the museums' large archives where they can be protected from ultraviolet light, heat and insects which might cause damage.

Each specimen with its associated data is labelled with a unique number in combination with the international acronym SMNS (for Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart).

Accessible to scientists from all over the world, as common property of science, type specimens in the museum are especially valuable. Type specimens are those unique specimens that have been used as reference for the description of new species, subspecies, genera or even families. The zoological collections at the SMNS are the basic material for all biodiversity research. There exists a network of loans between natural history museums worldwide, that facilitates the exchange of valuable specimens among international experts. The current rate of extinction of species emphasises the importance of scientific collections as archives of biodiversity. Analysing the data of all specimens allows insights into the former and current geographic distribution of different species.

History

Our zoological collections are global collections with a large proportion of historic material (collected prior to 1900). The most important historical collections are those of P. Bleeker (Indonesia), C. B. Klunzinger (Germany, Red Sea), A. Krämer (Pacific), Baron Ferdinand von Müller (Australia and New Zealand), Baron von Ludwig (Africa), August Kappler (South America) and Theodor von Heuglin (Africa). For more than 160 years, our holdings of recent vertebrates from throughout the world have been increased. With over 1500 specimens for instance, the mammalogical collection covers about one third of all recent mammalian taxa and can thus be counted among the 25 largest mammalogical collections worldwide. The ichtyological collection contains circa 1000 type specimens of about 450 nominal species.

Collections

The zoological collections contain 1.352500 specimens from the following groups:

  • molluscs: 1.000.000 (in 350.000 series), various marine invertebrates: 150.000
  • amphibians and reptiles: 25.000
  • birds: 70.000, eggs: 50.000, nests: 300, Federbögen: 8.000
  • mammals: 50.000
  • osteological objects: 23.500.

 

The zoological departments

 

Online-Catalogues