Molluscs are the second biggest phylum with over 100,000 species. They are an important part of the ecosystem and an essential part of the food web as well as indicators of habitat quality.

Molluscs are animals that have:

  • an unsegmented soft body
  • an internal or external shell (most species but not all)
  • a mantle (fold in the body wall that lines the shell)
  • a muscular foot and/or tentacles.

The Australian Museum Malacology collection is the largest of its type in Australia and encompasses marine, freshwater and terrestrial molluscs, with particular strengths in micromolluscs, opisthobranchs and terrestrial molluscs. The collection's geographic coverage generally centres on Australia, with a particular focus on Eastern Australia, but also includes extensive collections from the broader Indo-west Pacific.


Australian Museum Malacology Collection

The overall size of the Australian Museum's Malacology collection is 910,369 lots and dry specimens, comprising an estimated 11 million individual specimens, 46,025 Type lots (the specimens used to base all new records of a relevant species off), of which approximately 48% percent have been digitised. Many of the specimens are dry shells, but there is also a large collection of preserved molluscs, which are stored across two Australian Museum storage locations, our Sydney CBD site and the Castle Hill Discovery Centre.

Important early contributors to the Australian Museum Malacology collections included Tom Iredale and Charles Hedley, with significant recent contributions made by collector, curator and researcher, Dr Winston Ponder.

Learn more from research scientists Dr Isabel Hyman and Dr Frank Köhler about the study molluscs at the Australian Museum in this "What is Malacology?" explainer video.