PH (the official, internationally recognized abbreviation for the herbarium at the Academy of Natural Sciences) is the oldest institutional herbarium in U.S. It is a national resource for material from 1750-1850, with some dating from as early as 1689.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) maintains a National Collection of Vascular Plants, internationally known by the acronym DAO (for Department of Agriculture, Ottawa). Located on AAFC's Central Experimental Farm, it is the largest collection of its kind in Canada. Properly called a herbarium, it includes 1.5 million irreplaceable specimens protected in a climate-controlled environment. When adequately protected from moisture and pests, dried specimens can last for hundreds of years in the herbarium. This is a tremendous resource that allows identification of plants from anywhere in Canada and supports research on plant classification worldwide. DAO is working to digitize its holdings and make them accessible online. Datasets will be added and updated as this work progresses. Refer to our website for more information https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/agricultural-science-and-innovation/agriculture-and-agri-food-research-centres-and-collections/national-collection-vascular-plants-dao

The Department of Ornithology maintains one of the largest collections of bird specimens in the world. The research collections of the Department number nearly one million specimens; these include skins, skeletons, alcoholic preparations, eggs, nests, and tissue samples for molecular biochemical studies. A large number of type specimens and rare or extinct species are also found in its collections.

Digitized AMNH Hymenoptera

Founded in 1869, the AMNH mammal collections are among the oldest in the museum. Today, the Department of Mammalogy houses over 275,000 specimens, making it the third largest collection of recent mammals in the world. The scientific mission of the Department of Mammalogy is to describe the diversity of living and recently extinct mammals and to explore the mechanisms responsible for their evolution and extinction. In fulfillment of this objective, the department collects, archives and studies specimens of recent mammals and the data associated with those specimens. We aim always to provide the highest standards of curatorial care and to promote access to the collections by other scholars. The collections are visited by an average of 130 researchers every year, and the Department loans over 500 specimens a year to researchers around the globe.
The Recent Mammals Collection, together with the remarkable collection of books, journals, and manuscripts of the Department Library and Archives provides scholars with outstanding resources for research in mammalian systematics, biodiversity and evolutionary biology.

The Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre (AC CDC) was established in 1997. It became a member of NatureServe in 1998 and NatureServe Canada in 1999, was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1999, and became a registered charity in 2000. Like all Conservation Data Centres, our staff gather, maintain, and update spatially accurate occurrence data for species and ecological communities of conservation concern.

The AC CDC's mission is to assemble and provide objective and understandable data and expertise about species and ecological communities of conservation concern, including those at risk, and to undertake field biological inventories in support of decision-making, research, and education in Atlantic Canada.

Records of specimens at the University of Minnesota herbarium (MIN).

Records of specimens at the University of Minnesota herbarium (MIN)

The R. Dale Thomas Collection - University of Louisiana Monroe (NLU) collection was transferred to the Botanical Research Institute of Texas in 2017. Additionally in 2018-2019, more than 50,000 NLU specimens were transferred to the Shirley C. Tucker Herbarium (LSU) at Lousiana State University. Please contact Tiana Rehman (trehman@brit.org) with any questions regarding the collection.

With historical roots dating back to the early 1800’s, the Buffalo Museum of Science has had an eventful and rich journey into the present era of scientific exploration, research, and discovery. Our research collections are the records of this journey as they house artifacts and specimens that date back to our very beginnings and that span 5 different divisions of scientific study – Anthropology, Botany, Geology, Invertebrate Zoology, and Vertebrate Zoology. Through the years, we’ve seen our collections grow from just a handful of artifacts and natural specimens to now over 700,000, with the majority of these specimens being of local provenance. While we are considered a smaller institution on a national level, we proudly hold the most extensive cultural and natural record in the world of the Greater Niagara Region, and we continually strive to offer the members of our local community and to the scientific community at large access to these natural resources. Overall, we seek not only to “Inspire Curiosity through Exploration”, but also to impart a greater understanding of the natural world to the general public.

BugGuide (http://bugguide.net) is an online community of naturalists who enjoy learning about and sharing observations of insects, spiders, and other related creatures. BugGuide collects photographs of insects and other arthropods from the United States and Canada for identification and research and summarizes findings in guide pages for each order, family, genus, and species. By capturing the place and time that submitted images were taken, BugGuide creates a virtual insect collection.

The electronic catalog of the botanical collection at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco.

Bird observations from the Canadian Lakes Loon Survey.

Our Amphibian and Reptile Collection contains more than 251 470 specimens in 37 925 lots, most of which are fluid-preserved, with some skeletons, skins and mounted specimens. It also boasts a very good collection of dried frog skins mounted on sheets of paper, like plants; they offer a very good source of tissue for DNA extraction. Our emphasis is on geographic and life history variation of common species in Canada. Approximately 83% of the collection comprises Canadian specimens. This collection counts representatives from some 930 species in 67 families. One hundred and thirty-eight are type specimens, including two holotypes, among which one is a Canadian holotype and five are Canadian paratypes.

The Canadian Museum of Nature's extensive Bird Collection is comprised of study skins, mounted specimens, skeletons, nests, eggs, and some fluid-preserved specimens. In all, there are approximately 125,000 specimens representing ca. 2,600 species (one quarter of the world's species). This reference collection documents the extensive variation found in bird species across Canada, but also in countries where some of our birds spend the winter, such as Mexico or Brazil. The collection contains specimens taken over a long span of time, including species that are now extinct.

Dating back to the 1800s, the Canadian Museum of Nature's Crustacea Collection contains specimens associated with the exploration and development of Canada. Gammaridea, Caprellidea, Isopoda, Hyperiidea, and Mysidacea are the major groups found in the collection, which totals ca. 176,000 lots. The Amphipoda representation is particularly substantial as a result of the many years of research by Dr. Edward L. Bousfield

Our Fish Collection contains more than 754 190 specimens in 63 655 lots of fluid-preserved specimens. We have about 1740 type specimens that are mainly paratypes. We have a good representation of freshwater and marine species, predominately from North American high latitudes. The museum holds the best Canadian Arctic and lamprey collection in the world.

The Canadian Museum of Nature's General Invertebrate collection contains groups such as the cnidarians, various free-living helminths and non-segmented worms, and the echinoderms. Most of the museum's 47,000 lots of general invertebrates are from Canadian aquatic and terrestrial habitats, including the Canadian Arctic.

Records from the Canadian Museum of Nature Herbarium (The National Herbarium of Canada), including algae (CANA), bryophytes (CANM), lichens (CANL) and vascular plants (CAN). NOTE that geographical co-ordinates in the records are in some cases transcribed from specimen labels, whereas in others they have been derived by CMN staff from secondary sources (georeferencing). No GBIF field is available to differentiate records of each type. If you require this information, please contact CMN staff.

The Canadian Museum of Nature's Mammal Collection contains ca. 85,000 study skins, pelts, mounts, and skeletons, representing approximately 600 species. The museum holds the most comprehensive collection of Canadian mammals, with extensive coverage of Arctic regions. Carnivores, ungulates, rodents, and marine mammals are well-represented. The museum also holds many cetacean tissue samples (both dry and fluid-preserved) that were collected in the North Atlantic during commercial whaling operations in the 1960s and early 1970s.

The Canadian Museum of Nature's Mollusc Collection is the largest, most comprehensive collection of molluscs in Canada. The museum's 165,000 lots are divided into two sections: dry shell collection and wet collection. Overall, the collection represents more than 350 families, collected in over 12 countries and numerous oceans.

The Canadian Museum of Nature's Parasite Collection, which holds approximately 50,000 lots, contains large numbers of specimens from the Canadian Wildlife Service, Institute of Parasitology (McGill University) and the former Arctic Biological Station (Fisheries and Oceans Canada).

The section cares for over 187,000 specimens of birds, and a database over 206,000 records which include exchanged specimens and other specimens no longer in the collection. The most important of these are the 519 holotypes and 40 syntypes. We also care for approximately 196 extinct birds as well as specimens of many rare species collected decades if not more than a century ago. The collection on whole is ranked roughly ninth in the United States.

The Carnegie Collection has over 154,000 study skins, almost 16,000 skeletons of which over 5650 have an accompanying spread wing prepared, many with tails, over 10,000 egg sets, 6760 fluid specimens, 440 flat skins and about 1250 taxidermy mounts.

The Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG) at the University of Guelph is spearheading a novel approach to biodiversity research within Canada and internationally. Its three research units -- CBG Collections, CBG Genomics (or the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding, CCDB) and CBG Informatics -- are advancing 21st century biodiversity science by enabling species identification and discovery that is based on the analysis of sequence diversity in short, standardized gene regions, DNA barcodes. CBG Co… More

The Museum's mollusk collection consists of more than 2 million specimens, making it one of the largest in the United States. The 220,000 cataloged lots represent more than 18,000 species. Worldwide in scope and covering all seven living classes of mollusks, our holdings include marine gastropods (45%), land and freshwater gastropods (30%), marine bivalves (15%), freshwater bivalves (5%) and other (5%). The Museum's mollusk collection is primarily dry shells, with some alcohol preserved cephalopod specimens. Most specimens are recent; however there is some Cenozoic fossil material. Our type collection contains more than 1,200 lots.

The L. E. Anderson Bryophyte Herbarium includes approximately 260,000 specimens, of which some 220,000 are mosses. With about 50,000 moss collections from the southeastern United States, the DUKE collection is one of, if not the most important, resource for documenting the southeastern moss flora. Important collections of bryophytes include those of L.E. Anderson, H.L. Blomquist, M. Crosby, A.J. Grout, B.D. Mishler, W.B. Schofield, R. Schuster, A.J. Shaw, 48 bryophyte exsiccatae collections, and over 900 bryophyte type specimens.

Today, the E. C. Smith Herbarium contains over 200,000 specimens, including vascular plants, bryophytes, and fungi. It is the largest herbarium in Atlantic Canada and the first Canadian herbarium to have a digital database with scanned images of the collection.

The Acadia Herbarium began as an initial gift to Dr. H. G. Perry of a small collection made by G. U. Hay of St. John, New Brunswick. Included in this collection were a few plants collected by J. Fowler of New Brunswick before he went to Queen's University. These first specimens were collected between 1868 and 1880. Some of the plants were cultivated and some were from the United States.

Subsequently, in these early years, the additions were made chiefly through the work of Dr. H. G. Perry and his students. No records were available until the collection numbered some 6,000 sheets. Included in the 6,000, however, are a number of sheets from the Gray Herbarium Expeditions to Nova Scotia in 1920 and 1921.

Today, the E. C. Smith Herbarium contains over 200,000 specimens, including vascular plants, bryophytes, and fungi. It is the largest herbarium in Atlantic Canada and the first Canadian herbarium to have a digital database with scanned images of the collection.

The Acadia Herbarium began as an initial gift to Dr. H. G. Perry of a small collection made by G. U. Hay of St. John, New Brunswick. Included in this collection were a few plants collected by J. Fowler of New Brunswick before he went to Queen's University. These first specimens were collected between 1868 and 1880. Some of the plants were cultivated and some were from the United States.

Subsequently, in these early years, the additions were made chiefly through the work of Dr. H. G. Perry and his students. No records were available until the collection numbered some 6,000 sheets. Included in the 6,000, however, are a number of sheets from the Gray Herbarium Expeditions to Nova Scotia in 1920 and 1921.

eBird is a collective enterprise that takes a novel approach to citizen science by developing cooperative partnerships among experts in a wide range of fields: population ecologists, conservation biologists, quantitative ecologists, statisticians, computer scientists, GIS and informatics specialists, application developers, and data administrators. Managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology eBird’s goal is to increase data quantity through participant recruitment and engagement globally, but also to quantify and control for data quality issues such as observer variability, imperfect detection of species, and both spatial and temporal bias in data collection. eBird data are openly available and used by a broad spectrum of students, teachers, scientists, NGOs, government agencies, land managers, and policy makers. The result is that eBird has become a major source of biodiversity data, increasing our knowledge of the dynamics of species distributions, and having a direct impact on the conservation of birds and their habitats.

eButterfly was created in 2011 based upon two simple ideas. First, many people are passionate about observing butterflies and, second, every butterfly observation has potential research value for fundamental and conservation research. Even observations of common species from well-sampled areas have value for monitoring population change, phenology, and for other spatiotemporal studies... more

The bryophyte collection at The Field Museum is a major resource for bryophyte systematics, particularly for Central and South American, temperate Australasian, North American and European taxa. The collection consists of more than 200,000 specimens, including 127,614 moss and 51,508 hepatic specimens with a total of 2,284 types.

The Division of Insects’ holdings of worldwide Arthropoda (excluding Crustacea) rank fifth in overall size among North American collections and are of worldwide importance for many groups. The collection presently includes roughly 4.1 million pinned insects plus 8.3 million specimens or lots in alcohol or on microscope slides. In addition, there are over 17,000 partly-sorted “bulk samples” from traps or leaf-litter extractions. The collection receives heavy use by US and international research visitors and borrowers as well as extensive educational use.

The mammal collections at The Field Museum were founded in 1893, in the wake of the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and have grown into one of the world's premier resources for the study of mammalian evolution. Over its history the collection has had the names Field Columbian Museum, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Natural History Museum, and again Field Museum of Natural History. Collections of Recent mammals number more than 236,000 specimens and 550 primary types. Each category ranks it among the largest mammal collections in the world. Although the collections are unique, encyclopedic, and worldwide in scope, those from the Philippines, Peru, Chile, Madagascar, Tanzania, Egypt, and Iran are among the world's very best

Strong representation of neotropical taxa is credited to the many floristic projects and collection-oriented research programs, an integral part of the department since its inception. Especially rich are holdings in the neotropical families Rubiaceae, Asteraceae, Palmae, Fabaceae, Piperaceae and Solanaceae, primarily due to the work of present or former staff botanists. The Central American material is overall one of the world's finest single collections with special strengths in Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica. The South American collections are important with special strengths in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. A good representation in North American taxa is found, especially for Missouri and Illinois, and unmarked types are commonly discovered in these holdings.

UF Florida Museum of Natural History Birds.

The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is a late winter weekend survey of bird populations across the United States and Canada. Developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon, the GBBC engages tens of thousands of participants. Data is collected with postal code or town geographical resolution. Started in 1998, the GBBC provides a place-based characterization of a given area through a checklist of birds observed at that location. Presently, GBBC collects approximately 50 thousand checklists annually during a 4-day period in mid-February.

The Louis-Marie Herbarium houses 790000 specimens among which 600000 are vascular plants. The collection also houses 135000 bryophytes and lichens, 13000 fungi as well as a collection of 2000 seeds. The Louis-Marie Herbarium prioritizes the collection of Arctic-alpine, subarctic and boreal species form Canada and the northern hemisphere. The digitization of the collection is a work in progress. This dataset includes more than 65000 specimens of vascular plants from the province of Quebec. / La collection de l'Herbier comprend au total près de 790000 spécimens dont 600000 plantes vasculaires, 135000 bryophytes et lichens, 13000 champignons ainsi qu'une collection de 2000 graines. L'Herbier accorde une priorité aux espèces arctiques-alpines, subarctiques et boréales du Canada et de l'hémisphère nord. Ce jeu de données comprend plus de 65000 spécimens de plantes vasculaires du Québec.

The Louis-Marie Herbarium houses 790000 specimens among which 600000 are vascular plants. The collection also houses 135000 bryophytes and lichens, 13000 fungi as well as a collection of 2000 seeds. The Louis-Marie Herbarium prioritizes the collection of Arctic-alpine, subarctic and boreal species form Canada and the northern hemisphere. The digitization of the collection is a work in progress. This dataset includes more than 65000 specimens of vascular plants from the province of Quebec. / La collection de l'Herbier comprend au total près de 790000 spécimens dont 600000 plantes vasculaires, 135000 bryophytes et lichens, 13000 champignons ainsi qu'une collection de 2000 graines. L'Herbier accorde une priorité aux espèces arctiques-alpines, subarctiques et boréales du Canada et de l'hémisphère nord. Ce jeu de données comprend plus de 65000 spécimens de plantes vasculaires du Québec.

he INHS Insect Collection, which comprises ca. 7 million prepared specimens as well as noninsect arthropods (e.g., arachnids and myriapods) and miscellaneous invertebrates (bryozoans), is one of the largest and oldest entomological collections in North America. The growth and wide-ranging scope of this collection can be credited to the diverse interests of the systematists who have spent all or part of their career at the Survey. Scientists such as Stephen A. Forbes, the first Director of the State Laboratory and Chief of the Natural History Survey; Theodore Frison, who succeeded Forbes; and H. H. Ross, who directed the intense systematics studies of the faunistic section for 40 years, placed considerable emphasis on enlarging the insect collection. These insects document the changing landscape and environmental conditions of the world.

The INHS Insect Collection is one of the largest in North America. The most recent comprehensive size estimate was done in 1992. The heavy concentration of specimens from the last third of the 1800s also makes this one of North America's oldest insect and related arthropod collections.

The INHS Insect Collection includes more than >3,932 primary and >21,124 secondary type specimens. Because of size, historical holdings, and wide breadth of coverage in certain groups, the collection is an important national and worldwide resource.

Established in 2008, the International Barcode of Life Consortium (iBOL, http://www.ibol.org/) is a research alliance of nations with the desire to transform biodiversity science by building the DNA barcode reference libraries, the sequencing facilities, the informatics platforms, the analytical protocols, and the international collaboration required to inventory and assess biodiversity.

iBOL has overseen the completion of one major program, BARCODE 500K, and a second program, BIOSCAN runs for seven years from June 2019. The first program barcoded 500,000 species reflecting the investment of $150 million by research organizations in 25 nations. Building on this success, BIOSCAN will extend barcode coverage to 2.5 million species by 2025. This program will stimulate activation of the Planetary Biodiversity Mission (PBM) – iBOL’s final project. PBM is a research initiative that will deliver a comprehensive understanding of the composition and distribution of multi-cellular life by 2045.

Insect and arachnid specimens deposited in the Lyman Entomological Museum, McGill University.

The Macaulay Library is the world's largest and oldest scientific archive of biodiversity audio and video recordings. Our mission is to collect and preserve recordings of each species' behavior and natural history, to facilitate the ability of others to collect and preserve such recordings, and to actively promote the use of these recordings for diverse purposes spanning scientific research, education, conservation, and the arts.

The Marie-Victorin Herbarium (MT) is the second largest university herbarium in Quebec and ranks fourth among all Canadian herbaria. It includes about 50,000+ bryophytes. About half of the material is Canadian, but representation is global. The current dataset includes the ca. 28,000 digitized specimens from the collection.

The Marie-Victorin Herbarium (MT) is the second largest university herbarium in Quebec, and ranks fourth among all Canadian herbaria. It includes about 680,000+ vascular plants. Half of the material is Canadian, but representation is global. Recently, the WAT herbarium was acquired and is now incorporated within MT, though specimens are still to be cited with the WAT acronym. The MT and WAT datasets are individually shown in the dataset, though they all belong to MT. The current dataset includes the 164,000+ digitized specimens from the collection.

The McGill University Herbarium currently comprises about 140,000 sheets, including specimens from the McGill College and Macdonald College Herbaria. It was founded in 1860 with the gift of 500 specimens collected by Dr. A.F. Holmes in Montreal in the early 1820's and is rich in 19th century collections from North America. More recent collections from Quebec, Ontario, and the circumpolar Arctic, including Greenland and Siberia, form the core of the collection. A large collection of Cyperaceae, especially temperate and arctic Carex worldwide, serve as vouchers for DNA sequence data. The database includes about 20,000 records currently digitized from the McGill University Herbarium.

The lichen collection of the Michigan State University Herbarium (MSC) totals over 150,000 accessioned specimens from many regions of the world. The herbarium maintains over 10,000 exsiccati specimens, many of which are not otherwise available in North America. This extensive collection was assembled largely through the efforts of Dr. Henry A. Imshaug, the curator of the Cryptogamic Herbarium from 1958-1990.

The Missouri Botanical Garden’s Herbarium is one of the world’s outstanding research resources for specimens and information on bryophytes and vascular plants. The collection is limited to these two major groups of plants. As of 31 December 2020 the herbarium collection had 6.93 million mounted specimens (6.33 million vascular plants and 598,000 bryophytes). This specimen dataset includes over 4.7 million records (4.3 million vascular plants and 380,000 bryophytes).

Consolidated data set including observations from GBIF-hosted collections with less than 100 records for New Brunswick from all phyla. See individual occurrence records for collection details.

This collection uses gbifID as a unique identifier.

Consolidated data set including occurrences from GBIF-hosted collections with less than 100 records for New Brunswick from all phyla. See individual occurrence records for collection details.

The Museum of Comparative Zoology was founded in 1859 on the concept that collections are an integral and fundamental component of zoological research and teaching. This more than 150-year-old commitment remains a strong and proud tradition for the MCZ.

The present-day MCZ contains over 21-million specimens in ten research collections which comprise one of the world's richest and most varied resources for studying the diversity of life. The museum serves as the primary repository for zoological specimens collected by past and present Harvard faculty-curators, staff and associates conducting research around the world.

As a premier university museum and research institution, the specimens and their related data are available to researchers of the scientific and museum community.

The MVZ bird collection is one of the largest in the United States. It houses over 185,000 catalogued specimens, including 174 holotype and 2 syntypes. The majority of specimens are study skins, but the collection also contains over 21,000 skeletal specimens and 3,200 fluid-preserved specimens. Other types of preparations include flat specimens (wings, skins) and body skins with skeletons ("schmoos"). Tissues, anatomical parts (e.g., syrinx, stomach contents), and parasites are routinely preserved with specimens. Many specimens also are associated with cataloged audio recordings.

Data for the Australasian Virtual Herbarium (AVH) from the National Herbarium of Victoria (MEL)

Public records of accessioned specimens and observations curated by the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. These data are from the Departments of Botany, Entomology, Invertebrate Zoology, and Vertebrate Zoology (Amphibians & Reptiles, Birds, Fishes, and Mammals) and include more than 270,000 primary type specimen records.

Genetic Sample data for GGBN and other users.

Public records from the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. These data cover accessioned specimens representing fossil invertebrates, vertebrates, and plants from all over the world and include more than 139,000 paleobiological type specimen records.

Records obtained during campaigns and field activities of NaGISA project in various parts of the world.

Natural History Museum (London) Collection Specimens

The Entomology Collection at the Natural History Museum of Utah consists of approximately 250,000 pinned and alcohol specimens from around the world, with greatest specimen numbers from the intermountain west. The collection dates back to the late 1800s, with heaviest collection periods in the 1930s and 1960s. The collection was relocated in 2012 to a new facility with optimal storage conditions. Areas of greatest strength include Lepidoptera, Cicadidae and Cicindelidae. Future project emphasis is on databasing the collection to increase research utilization of the collection.

The NBM zoological collections are a series of scientific research collections that document the diversity of the fauna of New Brunswick and northeastern North America. Significant portions of the collections date to the late 19th century, a testament to the research endeavors of a handful of dedicated New Brunswick natural scientists, many associated with the New Brunswick Natural History Society (1862-1932). There are eight separate zoological collections as follows; Invertebrates (exclusive of insects and molluscs), Insects, Molluscs, Fish, Fish Scales, Amphibians and Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals.

The NBM zoological collections are a series of scientific research collections that document the diversity of the fauna of New Brunswick and northeastern North America. Significant portions of the collections date to the late 19th century, a testament to the research endeavors of a handful of dedicated New Brunswick natural scientists, many associated with the New Brunswick Natural History Society (1862-1932). There are eight separate zoological collections as follows; Invertebrates (exclusive of insects and molluscs), Insects, Molluscs, Fish, Fish Scales, Amphibians and Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals.

The NBM zoological collections are a series of scientific research collections that document the diversity of the fauna of New Brunswick and northeastern North America. Significant portions of the collections date to the late 19th century, a testament to the research endeavors of a handful of dedicated New Brunswick natural scientists, many associated with the New Brunswick Natural History Society (1862-1932). There are eight separate zoological collections as follows; Invertebrates (exclusive of insects and molluscs), Insects, Molluscs, Fish, Fish Scales, Amphibians and Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals.

The New Brunswick Museum herbarium houses about 115,000 specimens documenting the diversity, distributions, and habitats of plants and fungi in New Brunswick and other areas of eastern Canada. It is an active regional resource for research, education, and biodiversity conservation. It incorporates the 19th century collections of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick, including much of the material on which the first published catalogue (1879) of the provincial vascular flora was based. In recent decades, the NBM collections of bryophytes, lichens, and fungi have grown considerably; they include international material and exsiccatae. The cryptogams now represent more than two-thirds of the overall holdings of the herbarium.

The New Brunswick Museum General Invertebrate collection includes all other invertebrate groups excluding molluscs and insects. This collection includes one of the most important type specimen collections of North American water-mites. 

The NBM insect collection includes about 60,000 catalogued collections consisting of an estimated 200,000 insects.  Most are dried and pinned or in envelopes, but there are also significant holdings of wet-preserved odonate larvae.  The collection includes about 7,000 specimens from the 1897-1910 period, originally part of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick Collection (add link), mainly assembled by Dr. William McIntosh (1867-1950; add link), New Brunswick’s first provincial entomologist, and local naturalist A. G. Leavitt (1865-1945). Enveloped vouchers for New  Brunswick and Prince Edward Island from the first Maritime Butterfly Atlas (2010-2015) are housed in the collection. The collection is particularly strong in Odonata of the northeast (New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Maine), the work of noted odonatologist and NBM Research Associated Paul-Michael Brunelle (1952-2020), and others.  The collection also has strong holdings of New Brunswick Coleoptera and mosquitoes, the work of NBM Research Associate Dr. Reginald P. Webster. Significant holding of ants and Lepidoptera remain to be databased.

The NBM mammal collection includes about 20,000 skins, skeletons, taxidermied mounts, frozen and dried tissues, and alcoholic specimens and is the largest mammal research collection in Atlantic Canada.  Most of the collection post-dates 1965.  There are good series of skeletons of small mammals from New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario, as well as New Brunswick fur-bearers. The collection is notable for its collection of Atlantic Canadian cetacea, which includes skeletons, anatomical samples, and frozen tissues.  Although largely consisting of eastern Canadian material, the collection also includes the Alward Collection of trophy mounts, a world-wide collection of well documented taxidermied large mammals.

The NBM mollusc collection included about 9,000 catalogued lots of dried and wet-reserved specimens.  Although the collection includes some late 19^th C specimens, most material is post-1950. The collection incorporates the private collections of Jean E. and Sandra L. Brown (marine, worldwide), Don Doell (Conide, uncatalogued), and R. Henderson (marine, Caribbean and Somalia, uncatalogued). Significant recent additions include terrestrial molluscs from NBM Research Associate Robert Forsyth and large holdings of the 10 New Brunswick freshwater mussel species (Margaritiferidae, Unionide), acquired through staff investigation and those of local watershed groups.

The herbarium of the New Brunswick Museum (NBM) is a systematic collection of specimens documenting the diversity, distribution, historical occurrence, and habitats of the plants and fungi of New Brunswick and northeastern North America. It is an invaluable resource for scientific research, reference, and education. The nucleus of the herbarium is a collection of several thousand specimens assembled by members of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick, beginning in the early 1860s. Especially noteworthy among this material are collections made by James Fowler (1829-1923), author of the first catalogue of the provincial flora, and by George Upham Hay (1843-1913), a versatile early contributor to knowledge of New Brunswick’s vascular plants, marine algae, and fungi.  In recent years, the geographic and taxonomic scope of the collections has expanded considerably. This growth has stemmed in part from fieldwork by New Brunswick Museum staff and associates, and in part from donations, exchanges, and purchases. The vascular plant collection remains one of the main sources of documentation for the vascular flora of New Brunswick.

Museum specimens including skins, skeletons, fluid preservations, and frozen tissue.

The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) is a non-governmental, non-profit public resource for paleontological data. It has been organized and operated by a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, international group of paleobiological researchers. Its purpose is to provide global, collection-based occurrence and taxonomic data for organisms of all geological ages, as well data services to allow easy access to data for independent development of analytical tools, visualization software, and applications of all types. The Database’s broader goal is to encourage and enable data-driven collaborative efforts that address large-scale paleobiological questions.

Amphibians, Reptiles, preserved specimens. 19 holotypes, 415 paratypes Ambystomatid salamanders, Lacertid lizards, Agamid lizards, Iguanid lizards, Viperid snakes, Ranoid frogs, Hylid frogs, Megophryid frogs The ROM has one of the world's largest collections of tissues of amphibians and reptiles. Most traditional specimens are whole, alcohol-preserved; some are skeletons.

The ROM ichthyology collection has over one million specimens of approximately 7,000 species from around the world. The collection currently holds over 93,000 catalogued lots, including 124 holotypes and 1,045 paratypes, with additional types being added regularly through both in-house and collaborative research. The ROM houses the largest and most diverse collection of Canadian freshwater fishes in existence. Of the 232 known fish species in Canada, the ROM collection presently holds 212, or over 91%, and provides a critical tool for studies on disappearing wildlife. Highlights of the fish collection include the last Atlantic Salmon specimens from Lake Ontario before their extirpation in the 1850s; a Coelacanth from the Comore Islands; the world record Lake Trout from Lake Athabasca, Alberta; the Canadian record Muskellunge from the Moon River, Ontario; and one of the world’s smallest vertebrates, Trimmatom nanus from the Indian Ocean.

The Mammal collection consists of 120,000 skins, skeletons, wet specimens and is strong in Chiroptera and New World Rodents. The geographic strengths are Ontario (pre-1985), Guyana, Suriname, Colombia, southeastern Asia, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Approximately 24,000 of the more recent voucher specimens have associated frozen tissues.

The collection is extremely strong in diversity of island species throughout the world and contains significant historical collections of importance. The Fleming collection, once considered the most comprehensive private collection of birds in North America, contains many unique collections from Africa, Europe, India, China, and Island Archipelagos of the world. The study skin collection contains one of the largest collections in the world of extinct birds, including 1 specimen of the extinct Labrador Duck (1 of 54 mounted skins in world), 1 specimen of the extinct Great Auk (1 of 78 mounted skins in world), miscellaneous skeletal parts of Great Auk specimens, 14 specimens of the extinct Carolina Parakeet and many other species. The frozen tissue collection contains the largest collection of blood and DNA from endangered kiwi populations in New Zealand, as well as bone shavings and DNA from the 14 extinct species of giant moas. Extensive series of New World Owls. 

The collection is extremely strong in diversity of island species throughout the world and contains contains significant historical collections of importance. Representative collections of the magnificent Birds of Paradise (Passeriformes; Paradisaeidae) and Bower Birds (Passeriformes; Ptilonorhynchidae) have been described as within the top 10 in world by researchers. The study skin collection contains one of the largest collections in the world of extinct birds including 132 Passenger Pigeon specimens (skins) and New Zealand Huias famed for their sexually dimorphic bills. The skin collection contains historically significant holdings of the highly endangered Hawaiian Honeycreepers and the famous Darwin’s finches.

Recent Osteological Collection for comparative investigations.

The vertebrate fossil collection at the Royal Ontario museum consists of over 72,000 catalogued and databased fossil specimens of all vertebrate classes. Inventory and databasing of the fossil fishes is not yet complete however, so this number will grow in the near future. The collection is just over a century old, having been started with a donation from the University of Toronto when the museum was created in 1914. Particular strengths of the collection include Cretaceous dinosaurs from Alberta, Jurassic ichthyosaurs, Tertiary mammals from Saskatchewan, Quaternary mammals from Peru, Ecuador, Florida and Alberta, as well as Quaternary birds from Peru.

SEINet Collections that have fewer than 100 specimens from New Brunswick

This database contains information on the specimens in the Phanerogamic Botanical Collections of the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

In 1867, Professor Albert J. Cook started the ARC and it currently houses ~ 1.5 million specimens mounted on pins, slides or stored in alcohol representing ~35,000 species. A significant portion of the collection represents the insect diversity Michigan and the Great Lakes Region. Other significant collections represent the world-wide arthropod fauna for select taxa, e.g., Lepidoptera and Scolytinae. Researchers in systematics, agriculture, natural resources, urban insect management, to extension personnel and to the general public use these specimens. Please direct inquiries to Anthony Cognato, Director or Gary Parsons, Manager (parsonsg@cns.msu.edu).

The Harvard University Herbaria, with over 5 million specimens, is the world’s largest University Herbaria. Included in the Herbaria are what were once six separate herbarium collections: * Herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum (A) * Economic Herbarium of Oakes Ames (ECON) * Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium (AMES) * Farlow Herbarium (FH) * Gray Herbarium (GH) * New England Botanical Club Herbarium (NEBC).

The William and Lynda Steere Herbarium of The New York Botanical Garden holds a collection of more than seven million preserved specimens. All plant groups – flowering plants, conifers, ferns, mosses, liverworts, and algae, as well as fungi and lichens - are represented in the Herbarium collection, which is particularly strong in specimens from the Western Hemisphere. Digitization of all groups is underway, with more than 4.2 million specimens barcoded and 3.6 million imaged.

The Herbarium (ALA) at the University of Alaska Museum is the major regional herbarium in Alaska and part of a network of similar collections with an interest in the origin and evolution of the circumpolar flora. ALA contains more than 260,000 specimens of vascular and non-vascular plants. Data for the Vascular Plant and Cryptogam collections are managed separately in Arctos. Most lichen collections in the ALA date from the early post WWII period, after the Alcan (now Alaska Highway) was completed, including specimens from John Thomson’s first of two Alaska expeditions in 1958 on the Arctic Slope as well as his 1967 expedition along the Alaska Highway. The contributions of three other people, H. Persson and W. C. Steere (bryophytes) and H. Krog (lichens), further strengthened the foundation for ALA’s cryptogamic collections. Barbara Murray’s collecting started in the 1970s just after the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay on the arctic coast of Alaska. Use of helicopters became frequent and as a result Murray has collected large number of specimens at over 250 Alaskan localities. The ALA cryptogamic collection has recently been supported by two NSF grants (NSF- 1023407: Toward Documenting Biodiversity Change in Arctic Lichens: Databasing the Principal Collections, Establishing a Baseline, and Developing a Virtual Flora (with University of Wisconsin) and NSF NSF-1115056: TCN Collaborative Research: North American Lichens and Bryophytes: Sensitive Indicators of Environmental Quality and Change) to help with digitization of specimen data and taking care of large backlogs of specimens. The majority of the cryptogam collections are from Alaska, while numerous collections are also from Russia, Fennoscandia, Canada and the lower 48 United States.

The E. H. Strickland Entomological Museum houses approximately one million specimens. The research collection includes principally Nearctic insects, representing most orders and the major families thereof. The beetle family Carabidae is especially well represented: included are about 400,000 specimens mainly from the Nearctic region, but with an important Neotropical component, and fewer taxa from the remaining biogeographic regions of the world. The moths and butterflies, order Lepidoptera, with over 65,000 specimens, about half of which are from Alberta localities, are another group of major interest.

The Vascular Plant Herbarium is a research and teaching resource for the study of evolution, diversity, distribution and ecology of cordilleran, prairie, arctic and alpine plants. It is the largest herbarium of its kind in Alberta, and the third largest in Western Canada. Founded in 1912, the herbarium holds more than 120,000 specimens dating from 1835 to the present and is built upon the collecting activities of faculty members and students, as well as the acquisition of outstanding amateur collections. Though global in scope, the strength of the collection lies in plants of Alberta and northern Canada.

The UBC bryophyte collection houses mosses, liverworts, and hornworts and is a tribute to the career of Dr. Wilf Schofield, who came to UBC in 1960. Professor Schofield was the first bryologist hired at a Canadian university. When he started at UBC, the collection included roughly 3,000 specimens. As a result of Dr. Schofield’s efforts and those of his students and post-doctoral researchers, the collection has grown to over 250,000 specimens, a considerable legacy. After his retirement, Dr. Schofield continued his research, up to the month before his passing in November 2008. He was such an avid collector that his specimens will continue to be processed and added to the collection for some time.

This dataset includes all digitized fungi in the UBC collection, encompassing approximately 95% of the collection.

With 40,000 lichen specimens catalogued to date, the UBC Herbarium houses one of the largest lichen collections in western North America.
We have a very solid macrolichen collection, with a strong focus on cyanolichens, especially the genus Peltigera. For this genus, at least, this is certainly the largest collection in North America. The collection is also strong in Calicioids as well as in other microlichen groups characteristic of oldgrowth forests. Taken as a whole, the collection is very strong on epiphytic lichens, and rather strong on terricolous lichens, especially macrolichens.

This dataset includes all digitized vascular plants in the UBC collection, encompassing approximately 68% of the collection.

The UBC Herbarium has one of the world's largest collections of British Columbia vascular plants and is worldwide in scope. At present, the collection includes more than 235,000 accessioned specimens.

Herbarium COLO is the Botany Section of the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History on the Boulder campus. The Herbarium is available to anyone with an interest in botany. Users include faculty and students, visiting scholars, private consultants, local naturalists, and botanists from a variety of public and private agencies. This dataset contains the North American portion of COLO Bryophyte collection. Approximately 50,000 specimens from the rest of the world have not been digitized. No work has been done to georeference this collection. Any coordinates provided are from the collector's label and have not been verified. Collection strengths: Colorado, Southern Rocky Mountains and Western North American vascular plants and cryptogams, worldwide arctic and alpine, Appalachia, Galapagos Lichens, Australia, New Guinea, Altai, Mexico and the Seville Flowers Bryophyte Collection.

George Safford Torrey Herbarium specimens.

The Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (BIOUG) will be releasing data on marine invertebrates to the public domain as the data is published in peer-reviewed journals. Every specimen in the resource is digitized, and the exact storage location of each specimen is tracked in a collection management information system for quick reference and retrieval. The databased information for every voucher is also archived in the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD), permitting the permanent storage, validation and analysis of barcode sequence data and associated specimen metadata.

SEMC (Snow Entomological Museum Collection) comprises nearly 5 million pinned insect specimens. Our strengths are Apoidea, Neotropical Coleoptera (especially Staphylinidae, Hydrophiloidea, and Chrysomoloidea), Mecoptera, and fossil insects.
We have digitized approximately 800,000 individual specimens (mostly Apoidea and Staphylinidae, Orthoptera, and various other smaller families).

The University of Michigan Herbarium is home to some of the finest botanical collections in the world. The 1.7 million specimens of vascular plants, algae, bryophytes, fungi, and lichens combined with the expertise of the faculty-curators, students, and staff provide a world class facility for teaching and research in systematic biology and biodiversity studies. The organismal and genetic resource collections such as those in the Herbarium provide the best tangible record we have of life on Earth and constitute a crucial resource for use in research and education benefiting science, society, and the university. Working collaboratively within the highly regarded Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, our goal is to make UM a leading center for training and research in studies of the history, the change mechanisms, and the conservation of Earth’s diverse life forms.

The Mollusk Division incorporates approximately 5 million specimens and has long ranked amongst the most important freshwater and land snail collections in North America. Approximately 251,000 cataloged lots including over 406 holotype specimens and more than 1638 paratype lots are preserved as dry shells, ethanol preserved specimens, frozen tissues, lyophilized tissues, fossil material and radular microscope slide mounts. Mollusks from all regions of the planet are represented, with most being from North America, particularly from southeastern and upper mid‐western USA drainages. With the exception of Monoplacophora and Aplacophora, all extant molluscan classes are represented. The collection includes a number of significant subcollections; Bryant Walker Collection (one of the world’s largest private mollusk collections containing over 100,000 lots and about two million specimens), Royal Ontario Museum Collection [outstanding collection of North American (principally Canadian) freshwater and land mollusks], F. C. Baker Wisconsin Freshwater Mollusk Collection (one of the most extensive North American freshwater mollusk collections), Stelfox Sphaeriid Collection (one of the most important reference collections of cosmopolitan freshwater bivalve family Sphaeriidae), and Lyophilized Tahitian Land Snails (about 1600 freeze‐dried tissue samples of a now largely extinct snail family).

The Max & Fran Hommersand Algae Herbarium is curated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium (NCU).  Note that algae collected before 1995 by Hommersand were placed in formalin. Gabrielson's non-coralline specimens are a mix; if pressed fresh this is noted on the specimen label. Gabrielson's coralline specimens were not put in formalin unless noted on the label. NCU also curates vascular plants, lichens, fungi, bryophytes, & plant fossils. NCU, located in the center of the UNC-CH campus, welcomes visitors & researchers; contact Curator for information on hours & parking.

The collection houses over 183,000 filed specimens from throughout the World with a strong emphasis on North America, specifically the Southeast U.S., Pacific Northwest, and Alaska; Mexico; and Asia.

Bryophyte specimen collections (mosses, liverworts, hornworts), primarily from Washington and Oregon. Only Darwin Core 2 fields are accessible through this interface. Localities and geographic coordinates for rare taxa have been withheld.

The USDA-ARS U.S. National Fungus Collections (BPI) currently houses approximately one-million reference specimens. Data associated with over 925,000 specimens have been computerized and are available on-line. In addition reports of fungi on plants provide a comprehensive account of the host range and geographic distribution of fungi on plants throughout the world. Data are continuously added to the databases from herbarium specimens and newly published fungus-host distributions and disease reports. Additional databases contain taxonomic literature references and accurate scientific names of plant pathogenic fungi.

The North American Bird Phenology Program, part of the USA-National Phenology Network, was a network of volunteer observers who recorded information on first arrival dates, maximum abundance, and departure dates of migratory birds across North America. Active between 1880 and 1970, the program was coordinated by the Federal government and sponsored by the American Ornithologists' Union. It exists now as a historic collection of six million migration card observations, illuminating almost a century of migration patterns and population status of birds. Today, in an innovative project to curate the data and make them publically available, the records are being scanned and placed on the internet, where volunteers worldwide transcribe these records and add them into a database for analysis.

The WFVZ houses approximately 225,000 sets of eggs (equal to more than 1,000,000 individual eggs), representing at least 4,000 bird species from around the world, and collected from more than 400 individual and institutional collections. it is the largest in the world and has contributed to multiple scientific fields (e.g., conservation, ecology, taxonomy, and toxicology). The Foundation has more than 18,000 specimens from around the world, representing the largest collection of nests in North America and the world. The WFVZ houses more than 56,000 study skin specimens representing over 100 countries, with the largest numbers of specimens from the United States (>12,900), Mexico (>12,600), Malaysia (>4,400), Costa Rica (>4,000), and Ecuador (>3,800). The skin collection is at least the 16th largest among North American collections. The primary sources for specimens currently are wildlife rehabilitation organizations; wildlife research agencies; birds killed by cats, window strikes, and car impacts; and the Foundation’s own field research projects. Materials are consistently acquired by the Western Foundation and used by researchers, educators, scientific artists, and other museums. 

Founded in 1864 by Daniel Cady Eaton from his personal library and plant collection, the Yale Herbarium is an internationally recognized repository with holdings of approximately 350,000 specimens from throughout the world. There are an estimated 3,000 type specimens. The collection is particularly rich in ferns, bryophytes and grasses, as well as in historically important materials from early botanical collectors. In addition, it was the herbarium of record for the flora of southern New England from 1864 until 1955, when that function passed to the University of Connecticut at Storrs.

The systematic collections of the Yale Peabody Museum’s Division of Entomology comprise over 1,000,000 curated specimens. Division holdings include important collections of Lepidoptera, arachnids, Orthoptera, Coleoptera, water beetles and midges, and specialty collections on evolutionary themes. Recent acquisitions also include historically important collections from other institutions. The Division also maintains a general entomological library of periodicals, books and reprints that includes coverage of arachnology donated from the Alexander Petrunkevitch Library.

The Yale Peabody Museum's collection of invertebrate fossils is one of largest in the United States, in volume and in geographic, stratigraphic and taxonomic representation. The holdings of the Division of Invertebrate Paleontology represent more than 350,000 specimen lots, approximately 4 million individuals. A total of 35,000 are type specimens; about 4,500 are the basis of new species descriptions. Over 300,000 specimen lots are available in the online specimen index; all known type specimens are included.

Primary strengths of the Division of Invertebrate Zoology include large holdings of Western Atlantic invertebrates represented not only by recently acquired specimens, but also by a strong historical component dating to the late 1800s, totaling approximately 3 million individuals, thousands of which are the type specimens of species new to science.

The bird collection in the Yale Peabody Museum's Division of Vertebrate Zoology is among the most comprehensive in North America, with international and historic significance in several areas. The Division's affiliated William Robertson Coe Ornithology Library has an extensive nonlending research and teaching collection of books and journals.