About

The Illinois Natural History Survey Mollusk Collection is global in scope, with over 135 countries represented, and contains over 555,000 catalogued specimens in over 96,000 lots.

The collection is strong in freshwater mussels (Unionoida), freshwater and terrestrial snails from the Midwestern U.S., and cone shells (Conoidea). Additional strengths include freshwater bivalves and gastropods from the Southeastern U.S., Central, and South America. The collection is 57% bivalves, 41% gastropods, 2% other; 67% freshwater; 20% marine or brackish; 13% terrestrial.

Many of the specimens were gathered through faunal surveys conducted by INHS biologists from the late 1800s until the present. Early contributions came from naturalists such as John Wesley Powell, Robert Kennicott, Frank C. Baker, Richard E. Call, Anson A. Hinkley, Max Matteson, and William Starrett. The largest and best documented collection of land snails at INHS was compiled by Thural D. Foster and organized by Frank C. Baker as part of his Fieldbook of Illinois Land Snails (1939). The Baker snail collection includes 1,632 lots with 11,970 specimens.

Over 99% of the specimens have been identified to species, with names referenced to published literature. All of the catalogued lots have been databased, and 90% have been geo-referenced with latitude and longitude. The collection includes about 400 type lots (200 freshwater gastropods, 150 terrestrial gastropods, and 50 freshwater bivalves). More than 45,000 soft parts from over 200 species have been preserved, roughly half in ethanol, and are available for study. Approximately 12,000 lots were collected between 1850 and 1950, and 50,000 since 1950. The collection also maintains a backlog of about 5,000 lots. Specimen imaging is ongoing, with 4,000 lots photographed as of July 2017.