Parasitic worms collection

The Natural History Museum houses one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of parasitic worms in the world.

The parasitic worms section includes terrestrial and marine Platyhelminthes (flatworms), parasitic Nematoda (roundworms), Nematophorpha (horsehair worms) and Acanthocephala.

The collection has worldwide coverage and is particularly rich in material from Africa. We hold a large number of species that parasitize marine fishes from both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

There are many major personal collections including those of Harry Arnold Baylis, David R. Burt, Otto Fuhrmann, W.Grant Inglis, Clayton Lane, P. Le Roux, P.A. Maplestone, Stanislaw Markowski, F.J. Meggitt, Gwendolyn Rees, C.T.E. von Siebold, T. Southwell, W. Woodland, Mark Viney and Klaus Rohde.

Wet specimens

600,000

Slide preparations

180,000

Type specimens

~30% of the collection

Specimen breakdown by Phylum

Platyhelminthes (flatworms):
- Cestoda, 135,000 (wet), 50,000 (slides)
- Monogenea, 1,600 (wet), 15,500 (slides)
- Tubellaria, 5,000 (wet), 7,000 (slides)
- Trematoda, 26,000 (wet), 45,000 (slides)
Nematoda (roundworms): 85,000 (wet), 45,000 (slides)
Nematomorpha (horsehair worms): 560 (wet), 560 (slides)
Acanthocephala: 5,000 (wet), 700 (slides)

Important historical collections

International Institute of Parasitology type collection
Harry Arnold Baylis collection
David R. Burt collection
Otto Fuhrmann collection
W. Grant Inglis collection
P. Le Roux collection

Expedition material

HMS Discovery Antarctic investigations (1925-1928)
Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (B.A.N.Z.A.R.E.) (1929-1930)
Terra Nova Antarctic expedition (1910-1913)