Invertebrate Collection Database provider for APPD

The Department of Agriculture and Food’s Invertebrate Reference Collection contains a large array of species of agricultural and horticultural importance to Western Australia. Sitting alongside the holdings of pest species are comparative biodiverse reference specimens collected from over the largest state in Australia. Specimens from other Australian states are also held, along with a number of exotic/international species.

The collection is regularly used by DAFWA taxonomists and researchers to help facilitate biosecurity identifications, diagnostic imaging and as a source of biological and distributional information. Primary types are held within the main body of the collection.
Large holdings of note include Australian Jewel beetles (Buprestidae), Scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae) and slide mounted aphids (Aphididae).

The collection was established in 1894 and continues to the present. The estimated number of species in the DAFWA Invertebrate Reference Collection is 300,000. Of these, 140,000 are databased, representing 47% of the collection.