The algae herbarium contains almost 3000 specimens, primarily from Norway and Svalbard.
Tromsø Museum, photo by Adnan Icagic.
Natural history collections of the Arctic University Museum of Norway
Collections are the core of our museum’s mission: to document, preserve, research and exhibit the cultural and natural history of Northern Norway. The collections serve as extraordinary repositories of diverse objects and living organisms.
Collections
The Arctic University Museum of Norway houses zoological, botanical, and geological collections, predominantly sourced from Northern Norway and the Arctic regions. We are committed to research on biodiversity and taxonomy in the past, present, and future based on our collections.
Around 23,600 bryophyte specimens, encompassing a diverse array of mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.
We house an extensive fungal collection, comprising nearly 40,000 specimens, showcasing the remarkable diversity of fungi in our region.
A diverse collection, featuring nearly 23,000 lichen specimens, unique symbiotic organisms.
Our extensive vascular plant collection, which includes over 175,000 specimens primarily sourced from the northern hemisphere, a comprehensive botanical journey through the rich flora of the North.
Marine annelids are an important component of the museum’s zoological collections, numbering over 3500 specimens.
Over 6500 specimens of taxidermied and preserved birds.
Nearly 2000 bird eggs from Norther Norway and Svalbard.
The bivalve collection covers over 12 000 specimens, both fixed and in the form of shells.
Nearly 3000 specimens of lophophorates and entoprocts, mostly from the Norwegian Arctic.
Half a thousand arachnids and nearly 600 pycnogonids from Norway and Svalbard.
The collection houses over 1500 specimens of marine cnidarian and ctenophore taxa.
Beetles, the most speciose insect group of them all, are represented by about 22 000 specimens in the museum’s collection.
The crustacean collection holds nearly 20 000 specimens, primarily from Northern Europe.
Over 25 000 specimens of mainly Norwegian dipterans.
A unique collection of nearly 5000 echinoderms primarily from the Norwegian Arctic.
Marine and freshwater fish. Over 3000 specimens.
Over 2000 specimens of unicellular eukaryotes.
The gastropod and general mollusk collections cover both fixed specimens and large numbers of shells.
The museum houses unique geological and palaeontological material, chiefly from Northern Norway and Svalbard.
About 23 000 specimens of butterflies from Norway and tropical regions.
The mammal collections consist mostly of taxidermied and fixed specimens.
Over 1000 tunicate specimens primarily from Norwegian and Arctic waters.
Various marine groups including acanthocephalans, chaetognaths, echiurans, hemichordates, myzozoans, nematodes, nematomorphs, flatworms, sponges, priapulids, and sipunculids.
Terrestrial groups from Northern Norway, including Collembola