Annelid collection
Annelids are vermiform animals made up of a series of recurring units that each contain a fluid-filled internal cavity.
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Presentation
Annelids are conventionally subdivided into 3 groups: Polychaete Annelids, Oligochaeta, including earthworms, and Hirudinea (leeches). Several studies indicate that Hirudinea are only a sub-group of Oligochaeta and that these actually belong to the Polychaeta group. The 3 groups are probably not separate but included within each other.
For historical reasons, annelids are divided up into different collections at the Museum:
- the interstitial fauna of annelids, i.e. very small animals, less than a millimetre in size, is part of the Meiofauna collection,
- the "non-Meiofauna" Oligochaetes are attached to the general Parasitic Biology collection
- and the "non-Meiofauna" Polychaetes, which make up the majority, are placed in the Annelids collection.
All non-living specimens have been fixed in formalin, and in alcohol for specimens collected since 2010, and then preserved in alcohol.
The interest of the collection (several hundred thousand individuals, thousands of species) also lies in the fact that it contains specimens from all over the world, in particular from the French coast, the Red Sea, the Indo-Pacific and Antarctica.
History
This collection of Annelids, one of the three richest in the world, is both scientific and historical. It contains a large number of types, including those of Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck and other nineteenth-century specimens collected by Marie-Jules-César Le Lorgne de Savigny, Jean Louis Armand Quatrefages de Bréau and Baron Saint-Joseph.
These descriptors laid the foundations for the classification of Annelids, and their specimens are now used as a reference for nomenclature. This collection is backed up by a unique collection of documents.
Research
Since 2000, the collection has benefited from renewed interest in systematic research into Annelids. The first studies of this collection at molecular level have commenced. Taxonomic and nomenclatural revisions have been made.
Since 2004, the polychaete annelid collection has had the unique feature of having a type library alongside the general collection, with more than 2,200 types in 2025 (1,350 types in 2004), regularly enhanced by specimens from all over the world and available for consultation on the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle database.
Contact
Tarik Meziane, Curator of the collection of polychaete annelids and siponcles
tarik.meziane [@] mnhn.fr
Tel. +33 1 40 79 31 14