Research & Collections :: Collections at the State Museum :: Biology

The decapod collection consists of approximately 3,500 lots stored in ethyl alcohol. This collection dates to the late 1890s and includes representatives of all marine and freshwater species found in New York. This collection is cataloged in Specify. Specimens are cataloged as lots and lots are assigned catalog numbers sequentially. The earliest specimens in the collection are those collected during the preparation of F.C. Paulmier's Higher Crustacea of New York City, published in 1905. Later additions include those from the watershed surveys of 1926-1939, specimens collected in association with the 1957 publication of the Crayfish of New York by D.W. Crocker and specimens collected in the 1970s to the present. All species known to occur in New York are represented but specimens from all parts of North America are included in the collection.