About
The INHS Annelid Collection holds 350,000 specimens (over 7,000 lots, or collections) with approximately 225,000 permanently mounted on microscope slides and the remainder stored in alcohol in vials and jars.
Geographic Scope
The geographic scope of the INHS Annelid Collection is as follows:
- 76% from Illinois
- 23% from other parts of North America, including collections from the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida (including the Conch Republic), Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (St. John Island), as well as from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nunavut, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island
- 1% from other countries, including Australia, the Bahamas, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Greenland, India, Jamaica, the Lesser Antilles (Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, Granada, Nevis, St. Lucia), Morocco, the Netherlands, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Sweden, and Venezuela
Most of the specimens, both identified and unidentified, stored in this collection were collected during specific surveys for aquatic annelids and general surveys of all aquatic macroinvertebrates conducted by M.J. Wetzel and numerous other INHS biologists and colleagues since 1973. Many additional specimens have been donated by biologists associated with other public and private institutions, agencies, consulting firms, and the public.
General Diversity of the INHS Annelid Collection
Illinois species now deposited in the INHS Annelid Collection include three aphanoneurans (one family, one genus), nine branchiobdellidans (three families, six genera), eighty-six aquatic or semiaquatic oligochaetes (seven families, forty-five genera), thirty-four leeches (four families, nineteen genera), and at least thirty-eight terrestrial oligochaetes (six families, eighteen genera). One aquatic oligochaete, Eclipidrilus asymmetricus (Smith, 1896) (Oligochaeta: Lumbriculidae), is endemic to Illinois; several other oligochaete species, including Limnodrilus tortilipenis Wetzel, 1987 (Naididae, Tubificinae), Rhyacodrilus falciformis Bretscher, 1901, Rhyacodrilus subterraneus Hrabe, 1963 (Naididae, Rhyacodrilinae), and Allonais inaequalis (Stephenson, 1911) (Naididae, Naidinae), are considered rare in Illinois and are known from only a few localities in North America. Another species, Varichaetadrilus angustipenis (Brinkhurst & Cook, 1966) (Naididae, Tubificinae) — sporadic in its North American distribution — has been collected from several springs and caves in Illinois but rarely elsewhere in the state. Additionally, specimens believed to be recent introductions into North America are held in this collection and are the focus of several manuscripts currently in preparation.
Status of Specimens Deposited in INHS Annelid Collection
Over 70% of the slide-mounted aquatic oligochaetes have been identified. Many additional collections of aquatic and terrestrial oligochaetes and other annelids — presently stored in alcohol jars, vials, and tubes — await final processing, mounting on glass slides, and identification. A computerized database for the collection, established in 1991, is being reorganized to better structure and display metadata associated with specimens. At the same time, a collection profiling exercise is underway to evaluate the condition of this collection: for slide-mounted specimens — assessing the integrity of specimens and mountants, as well as locality and identification labels on slides; the condition of slide boxes; and verifying the locality information and specimen identifications linked to the database record for each slide in each box; for unmounted specimens stored in ethanol in vials, jars, and tubes — checking the integrity of specimens, preservative fluid levels, and labels; assessing the condition of container stoppers, caps, and lids; organizing specimen containers (in vial or jar racks, boxes, or trays); and confirming the locality and identification information associated with each specimen in the database.