Crustaceans include animals popularly known as crabs, shrimps, prawns, lobsters, slaters and a diverse range of smaller forms.
Containing more than 5000 identified species represented by approximately 51 000 registered lots, the Crustacea Collection is part of the larger Marine Invertebrates Collection and comprises specimens in 70% alcohol (plus a few dry) of crustaceans from many places, but especially from south-eastern Australia.
The collection is important in an Australian context because of the significant representation of taxa from Australian estuarine, bay, coastal shelf and deep-sea environments. Compared with those from other countries, the collection is exceptionally diverse for taxa from this part of the world and includes one of the most diverse deep-sea collections made. The representation of peracarids (groups of smaller benthic animals) is very high and the type collection of approximately 1000 species is irreplaceable.
Significant items
- Extremely diverse collection containing a large number of species representative of many, but not all, environmental habitats, geographical areas and systematic groups.
- Deepwater habitat crustacean collection is among the most diverse in the world.
- While fauna of south-eastern Australia is best represented, for some taxa, collections from other areas of Australia and elsewhere are excellent.