California Academy of Sciences (CAS-INVERT)
Established in 1914, Invertebrate Zoology is one of the oldest departments in the Academy, representing more than 160 years of scientific research. In combining with the Department of Geology in 1982, it became home not only to the most diverse collections in the Academy—encompassing an enormous range specimens and strengths—but to a robust staff of curators, researchers, collection managers, students, and more. Through field and lab work, multi-disciplinary expeditions, and scientific publications, our scientists rigorously advance knowledge in their areas of expertise. From octocorals and opisthobranch mollusks to echinoderms and paleontology, our work—and the collections we maintain—is a vital piece of the Academy's overall efforts to explore, explain, and sustain life on Earth.
Contacts: Christina Piotrowski, CPiotrowski@calacademy.org
Collection Type: Preserved Specimens
Management: Data snapshot of local collection database
Last Update: 8 February 2024
IPT / DwC-A Source:
Digital Metadata: EML File
Usage Rights: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Collection Statistics
- 247,028 specimen records
- 121,836 (49%) georeferenced
- 123,718 (50%) identified to species
- 1,917 families
- 5,986 genera
- 15,201 species
- 15,480 total taxa (including subsp. and var.)
This project is supported by the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology through an award titled
"Advancing Revisionary Taxonomy and Systematics: Integrative Research and Training in Tropical Taxonomy"
(DEB-1456674).
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.