Museum Scientists on Evolution
The Natural History Museum, with its mission to inspire wonder, discovery, and responsibility, recognizes that evolutionary biology is fundamental to understanding biological diversity and is critical for both scientific research and museums. The Museum welcomes people of all beliefs and backgrounds to join us as we explore, through science, the wonders of the natural world.
To see our Evolution Statement in full, click here
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Crustacea Department
The Museum's collections of Crustacea are the second largest in the United States and the fourth largest in the entire world. We house an estimated 140,000 "lots" of crustaceans (a "lot" is a single container, which could be a small vial or a large jar, and each lot may contain one to several hundred or even several thousand individual specimens). We estimate that our Crustacea Collections currently contain four to five million individual specimens. Historically, the geographical emphasis and strength of this collection has been the Eastern Pacific, and the collection is the largest in the world for that region. However, our collections are also worldwide in scope with broad representation from the Indian, Pacific, and Antarctic oceans, as well as the Caribbean Sea. Included are marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species. Ongoing exchange programs with other natural history museums around the world help us build the depth and breadth of the collection. The Crustacea Department maintains these priceless collections, continues to add to the collections as part of our ongoing research programs, conducts basic research on the collections, and unlocks their secrets for the benefit of the Museum's educational and exhibit programs and, ultimately, the public.