LACM Malacology

The James H. McLean Mollusk Collection of the LACM Malacology Department is one of the largest recent mollusk collections in North America and the world … and is the largest of its kind on the Pacific Rim. The collection is predominantly dry material with lesser amounts of wet preserved specimens and includes material from all molluscan classes. It is worldwide in scope with an emphasis on the eastern Pacific Ocean (arctic Alaska to southern Chile) and includes an estimated 500,000 lots containing approximately 4.5 million specimens. Over 120,000 lots have been electronically captured, which includes over 2,300 type lots. Renowned acquired collections include those from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Alan Hancock Foundation at the University of Southern California (USC).