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University of Copenhagen (UCPH)
Collections & Expertise
The collections of DK-TAF are, quantitatively as well as qualitatively, in an international top class. They comprise a total of about 20 million specimens of preserved animals, preserved human remains, preserved and living plants, tissues, fossils, minerals and rocks. Collections include approximately 75,000 type specimens, including ca. 8,000 types of insects described by I.C. Fabricius (1800's), the Forsskål, Isert & Thonning plants types, and types of fossil animals and plants from Denmark and Greenland.
| Collection | Highlights |
| Botanical | Plants, mosses, lichens and fungi from Greenland, N Atlantic islands, Denmark, Scandinavia, E and NE Africa, Thailand |
| Seeds of Triticeae (wild relatives of wheat, rye and barley, more than 10,000 samples) | |
| Culture collection of algae, marine phytoplankton, in the Scandinavian Culture Centre for Algae and Protozoa | |
| Thailand orchids; Crataegus, Commelinaceae and Begoniaceae | |
| World’s largest collection of Dahlia | |
| World’s only off-site collection of Galapagos plants | |
| Greek mountain plants | |
| Succulents | |
| Very large and diverse collection of annual plants | |
| Seed and genebank of wild Danish plants | |
| ca. 30,000 specimens of plant pathogenic fungi. Rare and unique collection of cones | |
| Entomological | Lepidoptera from temperate S. America |
| Tissue | World’s largest collection from birds (29,000 samples representing 3,000 species) |
| 8,000 African mammal samples | |
| 2,000 DNA samples of Monocotyledones | |
| Palaeontological | South American Quaternary mammal fossils |
| Human remains (very full archaeological documentation) covering Mesolithic up to 17th century | |
| Fossils from Denmark and the Baltic area, including all important fossils recently found in Denmark, Greenland and the Arctic | |
| Cambrian arthropods | |
| Devonian Amphibians | |
| Mo-clay Tertiary fossils, especially birds | |
| Triassic fishes from Madagascar, and fishes from the Devonian, Permian, and Triassic of Greenland | |
| Zoological | Arctic, especially Greenlandic, and Danish animals • Deep-sea animals • Baltic Sea animals • Philippine, Bismarck and Solomon Islands animals • Whales |
| World’s largest databases on African terrestrial vertebrates (> 800,000 records of ca. 3,000 species) and South American birds (ca. 600,000 records of 3.100 species) | |
| The new phyla Loricifera, Cycliophora and Micrognathozo | |
| All known species of African freshwater gastropods and bivalves | |
| Tissue collections |
| Collection | Staff Highlights |
| Botanical | Arctic/Antarctic lichens, Teloschistaceae |
| Toxic marine microalgae | |
| Pinaceae | |
| Asteraceae Mutisieae, Dahlia | |
| Calyceraceae | |
| Orchidaceae | |
| Crataegus, Crocus, Cryptocoryne | |
| Triticean grasses | |
| Disciplinary | X-radiography analyses of animals |
| Identification of Chiroptera using ultrasonic electronics | |
| Plant tissue culture methods | |
| Computer aided plant identification | |
| Invertebrate morphology | |
| 3D visualisation for biological anthropology | |
| Histomorphometry for biological anthropology | |
| Palaeontological | Brachiopods, Molluscs, Arthropods, Echinoderms, Foraminiferans, Conodonts |
| Sharks | |
| Trace fossils | |
| Early life forms | |
| Meteorites, Minerals, Basalts | |
| Zoological | Foraminifera, Xenophyophora |
| Polychaeta Phyllodocidae & Spionidae | |
| Tardigrada | |
| Araneae Araneoidea | |
| Crustacea Tantulocarida, Mystacocarida, Leptostraaca, Cirripedia (Thoracica & Rhizocephala) | |
| Diplopoda | |
| Coleoptera Staphylinoidea, Lepidotera ‘primitive groups, Hymenoptera Orussidae, Calyptrate Diptera | |
| Loricifera | |
| Ophidiiform fishes, Polar fishes | |
| Birds |
Analytical Facilities
DK-TAF is equipped with state-of-the-art lab facilities, which are being used not only by DK-TAF staff and students but also by a large number of external Users coming from all over the world.