U.S. National Parasite Collection

Department of Invertebrate Zoology | National Museum of Natural History | Smithsonian Institution Since its founding in 1892, the U.S. National Parasite Collection has been of vital importance to parasitology and has been under the care of scientists and curators of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This holding of specimens contains over 100,000 cataloged lots, with potentially thousands of individual specimens per lot, 3000 holotypes, and 7000 type series. With an estimated annual growth rate of 1000-1500 specimens lots and frequent global loan activity, the USNPC collection is among the most active parasite collections in the world. In 2013, an agreement was articulated between the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the Smithsonian Institution to transfer the Collection in its entirety to the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH).