Natural Science

Auckland Museum protects and cares for approximately 1.5 million natural science specimens in collections that have been built over 150 years.  The focus of the collections is northern New Zealand, but they also contain material from the rest of the country, the South West Pacific and other parts of the world.

Read about what we do, the specimens we hold and just what are "type" specimens? ... more »

The four main Collections are:

IMAGING TYPE SPECIMENS

Important components of our collections are the "type specimens". When a new species is described the researcher selects a series of specimens which show all the characters that make up that species.

ENTOMOLOGY

Auckland Museum's insect collection commenced soon after the Museum was founded in 1852. It contains comprehensive collections of most insect types as well as other terrestrial and freshwater invertebrates (worms, spiders and their relatives, millipedes and centipedes, some isopods and amphipods).

BOTANY

The Herbarium provides the basic means by which the Museums Botany Collections team can carry out the collection and preservation of botanical materials. It also provides educational services (through public enquiries, individual and group visits, outreach programmes, and the display of plant material), and research and publication on various aspects of the New Zealand flora.

MARINE

Auckland Museum Marine Collection consists of a wide range of specimens from New Zealand coastal and oceanic waters, including a large number of sea-shore and inter-tidal species collected from beaches, foreshores and estuaries. It also contains land slugs and snails.

LAND VERTEBRATES

Auckland Museums outstanding land vertebrates collection comprises over 12,500 bird specimens, 2,500 amphibians and reptiles and 1,000 land mammals. These specimens are primarily from northern New Zealand, but there is also a significant amount of material from elsewhere.

NATURAL SCIENCE DATABASES

Natural Science Databases

Contact Us

If you want to know more about our collections, what we do, or how we can help you, please email our staff.

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More about Natural Science

A land of giant, flightless creatures, New Zealands natural environment is uniquely ancient.

Auckland Museum´s natural science galleries tell the story of this environment, on land and in the oceans.

Don't miss our weird and wonderful animals including the giant Moa and weta, our dinosaurs and national icon, the Kiwi.

Visit the Museum’s Natural History Information Centre on the first floor.  Here you have the opportunity to find out more about our exhibits, our natural science collections and New Zealand’s unique natural environment...Read more

Identifications

Whether you want to identify a strange spider, unknown plant, fish or find out what the frogs had for lunch, our staff are there to help. If you have something you want identified, contact the following Museum services:

Natural History Information Centre
Weird &Wonderful

Both are located on the first floor.
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