Plant and animal collections in New Zealand

Introduction

Find where collections of New Zealand plant and animal specimens are held by research organisations and museums.

These major collections are important for research into the taxonomy, or classification, of New Zealand’s biodiversity. They further support biodiversity conservation and management.

Research organisations

Landcare Research collections
Landcare Research develops and maintains several collections and associated databases:

  • Allan Herbarium (CHR)
  • International Collection of Microorganisms from Plants (ICMP)
  • National New Zealand Flax Collection
  • National Nematode Collection of New Zealand (NNCNZ)
  • New Zealand Arthropod Collection (NZAC)
  • New Zealand Fungal & Plant Disease Collection (PDD)
  • Tī Kōuka collection

Scion forest health collections
Scion holds the largest sample collections and databases relating to forest health in New Zealand. There is an extensive fungus collection, the National Forest Insect Collection (FRNZ), and the BUGS database on bark boring insects.

Museums

Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira
The collections cover all animal groups. The herbarium contains over 330,000 collections of all plant groups (except fungi) found naturally in New Zealand.

Canterbury Museum
Canterbury Museum is amongst the countries oldest scientific institutions. The collection contains 500,000 invertebrate and 54,000 vertebrate specimens. It holds primary types of over 1,000 invertebrates and 100 vertebrates, all of which have been documented in their journal records.

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Te Papa's collection includes marine invertebrates, terrestrial invertebrates, birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and amphibian. The herbarium contains about 250,000 collections of all plant groups except fungi from around the world, specialising in plants of the New Zealand region.

Otago Museum
The terrestrial vertebrate collection currently holds around 15,000 specimens with mainly mammals and birds. The herbarium has a number of collections including the Dunedin Field Naturalists Club Collection, a small collection of ferns and albums, and the Rawson Diatom collection. Several hundred sheets of the native plant families Apiaceae and Thymeleaceae have been acquired.

Herbaria

New Zealand National Herbarium Network
Find out where the major public herbaria are and how to contact them.

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