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Collections of the Zoological Museum consist, on the other
hand, of scientific collections directed to research and, on the other hand,
educational and public collections directed to teaching. The insect and bird
collections purchased by Turun Suomalainen Yliopistoseura (Turku Finnish
University Society) during 1920-1921 formed the original basis of the
Zoological Museum's scientific collections. At present, the Museum's
scientific collections include approximately 3, 5 million animal samples and
especially the spider, soil arthropod, beetle, butterfly, true bug and
parasitic wasp collections include much unique material. The Museum's type
collections include mostly type individuals of insects and spiders. The
majority of currently incoming material are spiders, mites and, due to the
active collecting in Amazon-project, ichneumonid wasps. At the end of the
1980's, a database was founded for the storage of sample data. At present,
the Museum's data base includes information of some 150.000 samples.
With the help of the Museum's educational and public
collections, it is possible to become familiar with most of the Finnish
mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fishes. Public collections present
also a large number of domestic insects, a lot of tropical animal species
and animal droppings.
The research projects of the Zoological Museum focus in
particular on the diversity, taxonomy and systematics of arthropods and
tropical fresh water fishes. The Museum?s research activities require
wide-ranging international co-operation. The emphasis of the research is on
Holarctic, Neotropical and Indo-pasific regions.
Pest and other animal samples can be brought to the Museum
for identification. If you have an interesting sample, please, contact the
staff before arriving.
Zoological
Museum
Section of Biodiversity and Environmental Science
Department of Biology
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