Address: 37 Okeansky Prospekt, Vladivostok, Russia 690000 The FEFU Zoological Museum possesses one of the largest malacological collections in the Russian Far East and in Russia. This collection is very important from the scientific, educational, and aesthetic points of view. The Zoological Museum was founded in 1958 and is now the oldest biological museum in the Russian Far East.
Gastropods (Gastropoda)
The collection of gastropods (Gastropoda) is the largest of all mollusk collections. It includes 8940 lots and over 26 thousand specimens of 2578 species (185 families) from different geographical regions. For most gastropods, only their shells are stored in the collection. The mollusks with reduced shells or without shells are fixed in 4% formaldehyde. In recent years some gastropods have been fixed in 70% alcohol.
The most numerous collections are from the Pacific Ocean: Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The Indian Ocean malacofauna is represented by shells collected along the coasts of Africa, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand (Andaman Sea), and the Seychelles; the Atlantic Ocean mollusks came from the northern coast of France, the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Caribbean; and a small collection of the Arctic Ocean gastropods includes mollusks from the coasts of the White, Barents, and Chukchi seas. There are also few individuals from the Antarctic, Easter Island, Tierra del Fuego, the Galapagos Islands, the coasts of Chile, the Argentina, and the islands of Oceania. Almost one third of the collection (2098 lots) is comprised of species from Russian, first of all, Far Eastern seas.
The most diverse are the collections of the families Buccinidae (over 209 species), Conidae (180), Cypraeidae (138), Trochidae (127), and Muricidae (107). Almost two thirds of the collection of Buccinidae, or true whelks, are inhabitants of the Russian Far East seas. Among the rest of the collection of this family, there are only several tropical species, but these include South African endemics Afrocominella lagenaria and Burnupena capensis.
Tropical gastropods amount to nearly 5000 lots, and Conidae and Cypraeidae are represented by the largest collections. The conid collection is comprised of almost a third of the number of known species (there are totally 500 known species), and the cowrie collection makes up more than a third of the number of known species (totally 300 known species). These include many endemics from the Red Sea, the coasts of Africa, Hawaii and some other places. Trochidae (127 species) and Muricidae (107 species) families are represented mostly by tropical species. Some of these mollusks are identified only to the genus level. There are also slightly more than 40 species of gastropods without shells.
Apart from modern mollusks, there is a small collection of fossil marine gastropods from Primorsky Krai and Sakhalin Island (Russia), Moldavia, Italy, and the United States.
The most valuable part of the research collection is type material. It is represented by the holotype of Aenigmastyletus alexeii Martynov, 1998; the holotype and paratypes of Nipponacmea moskalevi Chernyshov et Chernova, 2002; the holotype and a paratype of Runcinida marisae Chernyshov, 1998; the holotype and a paratype of Ammonicera vladivostokensis Chernyshev, 2003; paratypes of Erginus galkini Chernyshev et Chernova, 2002; Ammonicera chosenica Chernyshev, 2003, and Nipponacmea vietnamensis Chernyshev, 2008.
It should be noted that the FEFU Zoological Museum keeps quite a number of rare and endemic species. Tropical gastropods include several rarities: a large Australian tru
mpet Syrinx aruanus, Cypraea aurantium (Philippines), Cypraea fultoni (East Africa), Conus milneedwardsi (Mosambique coast), Conus gloriamaris (Philippines), fossil mollusk Siphonocypraea problematica griffini (USA), endemic murex from Chile Concholepas concholepas, resembling a valve of a bivalve shell.The most valuable specimens of the Far Eastern mollusks are the rare and listed in the Red Data Book Cerathostoma burnettii, Tugali gigas, Pyrolofusus deformis, and Papyriscala tricincta, as well as several new for Russia species of nudibranchs: Akiodoris lutescens (coastal waters of Iturup Is., the Kurils), Adalaria jannae, and Eubranchus horii (Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan). The shells of the genus Ammonicera (family Omalogyridae) from Peter the Great Bay deserve attention, as one of the members of this genus is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the smallest of the known mollusks. Several specimens gastropods have shells with the left-handed coiling, which is also interesting.
Some shells are very beautiful and thus are especially valuable for the Museum display. Over 400 species of permanently displayed marine gastropods always attract attention of visitors. The gastropod exhibition of the Museum is arranged systematically, presenting an important visual material for teaching schoolchildren and university students the biological diversity and geographical distribution of mollusks.
From June 13 to July 15, 2013 the Zoological Museum held an exhibition “The Mystery of Nacre”. It showed household articles, pictures, souvenirs, and jewelry inlaid with nacre by masters from Vietnam, China, Korea, Russia, Syria, Thailand, and Japan. This exhibition also showed mother-of pearl shells, told about the history of nacre arts and crafts, and some national techniques of mother-of-pearl craft. Such exhibition was held first time for Vladivostok and probably for the whole Russian Far East.
The gastropod collection has existed for more than 50 years. First tropical marine gastropods were granted to the Zoological Museum by the Kharkiv State University in 1962 and formed the basis for the collection. In the 1960s the collection was occasionally supplied by the specialists and students of the Biology and Soil Faculty of the then Far Eastern State University (FESU), who collected shells and fixed whole gastropod individuals during expeditions and summer field trainings; private collectors also gave their collections to the Museum as presents.
The period of intensive increase of the collection began in the early 1970s, when the vessels of the Russian Far East research institutions (Pacific Ocean Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (TINRO in Russian abbreviation), TINRO Research Fleet Base (TURNIF in Russian) and Far Eastern Scientific Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences) frequently undertook expeditions to the Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Bering, Okhotsk seas and other regions of the world. Specialists of the Far Eastern research institutions (alumni and external students of FESU) gathered numerous different marine gastropods, which formed the main body of the collection. This source of supply almost ceased in the 1990s. Small collections still came from the FESU specialists and students, private collectors and from exchanges with the other Russian and foreign museums (Natal Museum, SAR). In 1997, 1999, and in 2001 the Zoological Museum specialists gathered considerable number of gastropods during research cruises of Akademik Oparin, the research vessel belonging to the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FEB RAS).
Another wave of intensive gastropod collection contributions began in the 2000s. Specialists of FESU and FEB RAS institutes took lots of shells from expeditions and private trips. Large collections also came from private collectors. For example, the collection granted to the Zoological Museum by Valentin G. Fedorey from Vladivostok almost one and half times multiplied the species diversity of gastropods (1605 lots).
It should be noted that the first gastropods received were not registered and many of them were not even labelled, which is required for scientific collections. The collection in such a state could not be effectively used for research and education. Therefore a comprehensive yet irregular registration of the incoming specimens began in the Museum in 1974. Only in 1993 the staff of the Museum began to check and list all the labels. All the gastropods were newly labelled and sorted by species, genera, and families. At present, every new specimen received is included to a special register, labelled, and listed in the taxonomic catalogue. By the late 1990s all the available data were included to a database made up by use of the ACCESS software, and this database is being regularly updated with the new supplements. As a result of this work, information necessary for a researcher may now be quickly found in the collection. All the lots stored here are still provided with original labels made by persons who collected them. These labels both provide scientific data and data on people and even whole organizations, which took part in the collection formation. Hence, almost all lots commemorate the names of those who collected them, brought them for storage, or identified the priceless museum materials. Owing to them, the Museum specialists have an opportunity (and consider it their agreeable duty) to express their deep and sincere gratitude to the people, who helped to create the largest research collection of gastropods in the Russian Far East.
The most significant contribution to the collection was made by specialists of the Pacific Ocean Research Institute of Fish Industry and Oceanography (TINRO), TINRO Research Fleet Base (TURNIF), and the Institute of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FEB RAS: before 1992, Far Eastern Scientific Center, then Far Eastern Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences). The first and the most considerable input to the tropical gastropods was made by the former TINRO specialists: V.Sh. Kazykhanov, V.M. Shpak, A.G. Govorukha (expeditions to Australia and New Zealand), G.S. Aduev, and M.V. Pogiba (South China Sea). Specialists of this institute have also delivered a valuable part of boreal Pacific gastropods’ collection: since 1971 the Museum regularly got gastropods from V.N. Koblikov, A.I. Piskunov, V.A. Nadtochy, K.M. Prokopenko, V.Sh. Kazykhanov (Sea of Okhotsk, eastern Sakhalin, Kuril Islands). The Bering Sea gastropods almost entirely came from M.V. Pogiba and Z.B. Smetanina. TINRO specialists, Far Eastern State University (FESU) alumni O.N. Vasik, I.V. Volvenko, V.A. Shelekhov and others later brought very good gastropod specimens, too.
In the 1980s, marine gastropods were repeatedly received from the specialists of the Institute of Marine Biology, FEB RAS: V.I. Fadeev (Vietnam, Moneron Is.), S.A. Rostomov, A.S. Rudenko (Vietnam), G.T. Belokon’ (Papua New Guinea, New Zealand), and G.M. Kamenev (Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Kuril Islands). Navy sailors also made their contribution to the collection of tropical gastropods: N.I. Kovrov, G.A. Oreshenkov, N.A. Mikhailin, and V.A. Ivantei gathered mollusks in the areas they visited during their military service.
Of course, the university collection received significant amount of materials from FESU specialists, too. For example, many endemic species from Australia and New Zealand were collected by the specialists of the Faculty of Geophysics G.M. Tomilov, V.P. Bobykina, and by the former Head of the Hydrobiology and Ichthyology Chair of the Biology and Soil Faculty and later TINRO specialist V.G. Svirsky. University professors: O.I. Daschenko, T.I. Mukhina, Yu.N. Nazarova, A.V. Chernyshev (Animal Ecology and Systematics Chair), V.A. Rakov (Aquatic Ecology and Aquaculture Chair), N.V. Naumenko (Biochemistry and Biotechnology Chair), and G.I. Ponomarchuk (Faculty of Geophysics) also gave their gastropod collections to the Museum. Museum specialists, of course, also supply the gastropod collection.
In the last decade, the Institute of Marine Biology (IMB, FEB RAS) specialist K.A. Lutaenko and the Museum staff member O.A. Burkovsky were the most active suppliers of the collection (815 and 539 lots respectively). The gastropods they gathered made it possible to form apparently the best in Russia collection of Southeast Asia gastropods.
Special thanks are due to the FESU alumnus Valery Borisovich Darkin. He was collaborating with the Museum for many years, and he presented the mollusks already identified to the species level, with detailed labels, and all shells in a very good state. His gastropods include such rare species as glory-of-the-sea and glory-of-India cones (fam. Conidae) and "golden" cowrie (fam. Cypraeidae). Darkin gathered the shells from different regions of the world: Africa, USA, the Argentine, Mediterranean, Easter Island, the islands of Oceania, etc. He recommended and organized the transferring of gastropod collections from the famous Vladivostok collector V.G. Fedorei and from TINRO specialist V.A. Barkhatov (347 lots). Darkin presented almost 900 lots of unique shells to the Museum. We can surely say that the major part of the exhibited shells have been provided by Valery Borisovich
G.A. Evseev, S.A. Rostomov, and V.B. Darkin (IMB, FEB RAS) and the private collector V.G. Fedorei helped a lot in taxonomic identification of tropical mollusks, and A.V. Martynov (IMB, FEB RAS) identified tropical nudibranchs. The Far Eastern fauna was largely identified by V.V. Gul’bin, K.A. Lutaenko, K.S. Tkachenko (IMB, FEB RAS), V.I. Piskunov (TINRO), G.N. Volova, V.A. Rakov, A.V Chernyshev (Far Eastern Federal University, FEFU), V.N. Goryachev (Moscow State University), and B.I. Sirenko (Zoological Institute, RAS).
Terrestrial gastropods.
The terrestrial gastropods’ collection includes 183 species from 35 families (548 lots). The families represented by the largest numbers of species are: Bradybaenidae (26 species), Helicidae (17 species), Clausiliidae, and Hygromiidae (16 species each).
Most gastropods for this collection were gathered in Primorsky Krai (153 lots), 57 from them in the areas around Vladivostok. These were provided mainly by A.V. Chernyshev, Yu.N. Nazarov, and M.G. Kazykhanova (FEFU) in the late 1980s to the early 1990s. However, the material collected in the tropics is also large, 133 lots. Tropical terrestrial gastropods were collected basically in the Southeast Asia (106 lots), as well as in Sri Lanka, Cuba, USA, Haiti, New Zealand, and India.
A collection of terrestrial gastropods has been presented to the Museum lately by the private collector from the Czech Republic L. Koloukh. He passed to the Museum 125 lots: 38 species of 11 families. All lots were identified and had detailed labels. The research collection also includes small collections from the Ukraine, Moldavia, Kyrgyzstan, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Estonia, Israel, and Chuvashia, from Sakhalin and Kunashir islands, as well as from several regions of the European part of Russia (Krasnodar, Kirov, Saint-Petersburg, and Chelyabinsk). A land slug Deroceras caucasicum should be noted as an interesting object, as it was also found in the Russian Far East as an alien species (Primorsky Krai) in 1996.
Freshwater gastropods.
The collection of freshwater gastropods includes 3155 specimens (555 lots). They represent 150 species from 18 families, and over half of them were collected in Primorsky Krai (232 lots). The most numerous are gastropods from the Khanka Lake (44 lots, 21 species), the basins of the Ussury (44 lots, 9 species) and Razdolnaya (33 lots, 17 species) rivers. The malacofaunas of the Baikal Lake and the basins of the Amur, Vyatka, and Dniester rivers are also rather diverse. Gastropods from the other regions of Russia (Kuril Islands, Novosibirskaya, Leningradskaya, Moskovskaya, Pskovskaya, Magadanskaya oblasts, Krasnodarky and Krasnoyarsky krais, Kamchatka and Chuvashia) are few, rarely more than 10 lots. The same is true for the material gathered in Ukraine, Moldavia, Belarus, and Estonia.
The collection of tropical freshwater gastropods, mainly from the Southeast Asia, has increased for the last several years (162 lots). Particularly, 99 specimens were gathered by the museum specialist Oleg A. Burkovsky in the lakes and rivers of Indonesia during his private trips. Of interest are the shells of endemic species from Sri Lanka, Cuba, USA, and Solomon Islands.
The most numerous in the number of species are the families Lymnaeidae and Viviparidae (24 species each), Planorbidae (18 species), Thiaridae (14 species), Baicaliidae (11 species), Pachychilidae, and Ampullariidae (10 species each).
As freshwater mollusks are difficult for identification, the collection includes quite a number of gastropod shells of the genera Juga and Lymnaea labelled as just “sp.”. Altogether, members of 28 genera (158 lots) were not identified to species. Additionally, many groups need re-identification; thus, the number of species in this collection is currently unclear.
The first freshwater gastropods came to the Museum in 1958 from L.V. Mikulich. Before the early 1990s the collection was time and again supplied mainly by the specialists and students of the Biology and
Soil Faculty of the FESU. Relatively large number of gastropods was gathered by M.M. Nazarova in Moldavia (1983) and a collection of Baikal Lake shells was presented to the Museum in 1981 by A.N. Petrov, specialist of the Irkutsk State University. Regular contributions to the Museum and work over the identification of freshwater gastropods started in 1992 owing to the post-graduate students of the Zoology Chair of the FESU Biology and Soil Faculty A.V. Chernyshev and A.V. Martynov. The shells they gathered formed the bulk of the continental gastropods’ collection for that period. Small numbers of gastropods from the European part of Russia were presented to the Museum by T.G. Shikhova (Kirov Regional Museum).
L.A. Prozorova from the Biology and Soil Institute, Far Eastern Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, began to methodically process the accumulated lots in the early 1980s. She helped to make a stand "Freshwater and Terrestrial Gastropods", which showed 63 species from 21 families (141 specimens). The collection of freshwater gastropods has been supplied in the last years by the Museum specialists, basically by O.A. Burkovsky, who gathered totally 195 lots (695 specimens).
Alexey Viktorovich Chernyshev helps in identifying the incoming material.
Bivalve mollusks (Bivalvia)
The bivalve mollusks’ collection is one of the most valuable collections in the Zoological Museum. It includes 1102 species (145 of them identified only to genus) of 85 families: 6053 lots (20,869 specimens) altogether. Most species belong to the families: Veneridae (124), Arcidae (93 видов), Cardiidae (90), Unionidae (87), Tellinidae (82), Pectinidae (66), and Mytilidae (60). The genera Macoma (43 species) and Anadara (42 species) are represented by the highest number of members.
The collection includes two species listed in the Red Data Book of Russian Federation (Solencorneus and Solen krusensterni), as well as type material:
| Arcidae | Anadara kafanovi Lutaenko, 1993 | HOLOTYPE |
| Arcidae | Anadara kafanovi Lutaenko, 1993 | PARATYPE |
| Cuspidariidae | Cardiomya ochotensis Scarlato, 1972 | PARATYPE |
| Limopsidae | Limopsis oliveri Amano et Lutaenko, 2004 | ГОЛОТИП |
| Limopsidae | Limopsis oliveri Amano et Lutaenko, 2004 | PARATYPE |
| Limopsidae | Limopsis oliveri Amano et Lutaenko, 2004 | PARATYPE |
| Nuculanidae | Nuculana ochotensis Scarlato, 1981 | PARATYPE |
| Nuculidae | Acila beringiana Slodkewitsch, 1967 | PARATYPE |
| Tellinidae | Macoma coani Kafanov et Lutaenko, 1999 | PARATYPE |
| Tellinidae | [Macoma golikovi Scarlato et Kafanov, 1988] | PARATYPE Macoma orbiculata Scarlato, 1981 |
| Tellinidae | [Macoma scarlatoi Kafanov et Lutaenko, 1997] | PARATYPES Macoma orientalis Scarlato, 1967 |
| Unionidae | Anemina adotymensis Labay et Shulga, 1999 | HOLOTYPE |
| Unionidae | Anemina adotymensis Labay et Shulga, 1999 | PARATYPES |
| Unionidae | Anemina lacustris Labay et Shulga, 1999 | HOLOTYPE |
| Unionidae | Anemina lacustris Labay et Shulga, 1999 | PARATYPE |
| Unionidae | Anemina shadini deflexa Martynov et Tshernychev, 1992 | HOLOTYPE |
| Unionidae | Anemina shadini deflexa Martynov et Tshernychev, 1992 | PARATYPE |
| Unionidae | Anemina shadini deflexa Martynov et Tshernychev, 1992 | PARATYPE |
| Unionidae | Anemina shadini deflexa Martynov et Tshernychev, 1992 | PARATYPE |
| Unionidae | Anemina zatrawkini Martynov et Tshernychev, 1992 | HOLOTYPE |
| Unionidae | Kunashiria japonica boreosakhalinensis Labay et Shulga, 1999 | paratype? |
| Unionidae | Nodularia extremalis Martynov et Chernyshev, 1992 | HOLOTYPE |
| Veneridae | [Irus ishibashianus Kuroda et Habe, 1952] | PARATYPE Asaphis kussakini Ivanova |
| Veneridae | [Irus ishibashianus Kuroda et Habe, 1952] | PARATYPE Asaphis kussakini Ivanova |
| Veneridae | [Irus ishibashianus Kuroda et Habe, 1952] | PARATYPE Asaphis kussakini Ivanova |
| Veneridae | [Irus ishibashianus Kuroda et Habe, 1952] | PARATYPE Asaphis kussakini Ivanova |
Detailed information and photos of the type material are published in the paper: Lutaenko, K.A., Volvenko, I.E. Types of bivalve mollusks in the collection of the Zoological Museum, Far East National University, Vladivostok. Bulletin of the Russian Far East Malacological Society. 2009. V. 13. Pp. 17-33. [in Russian with English abstract].
Before the late 1980s only the exhibited Bivalvia were identified and systematized. In the 1990s the bivalve mollusks’ collection was supplied due to scientific exchanges or presents from the other museums, which expanded its geography and taxonomic composition. Exchanges of material were organized with the Natal Museum, South African Republic; University of Ferrara, Italy; and Osaka University, Japan. Prof. Alexander I. Kafanov (IMB, FEB RAS), famous specialist in modern and Cenozoic mollusks, who consulted the Museum on all questions of taxonomy and nomenclature, granted his large collection of marine Bivalvia from different oceans to the Museum. Some materials came from the Zoological Institute, RAS (predominantly shells from the South China Sea) and from the IMB Museum (Sea of Japan, including the coast of Korea).
The first specialist who identified the mollusks collected in the 1980s predominantly in tropical and subtropical regions was Dr. George A. Evseev (Institute of Marine Biology, IMB). A part of the bivalve mollusks’ collection was identified by Galina N. Volova (Hidrobiology and Ichthyology Chair, FESU), the only malacologist who worked in the Biology and Soil Faculty of the FESU in 1960-1980. The first curator of this collection was Konstantin Anatolievich Lutaenko (at that time, staff member of the Zoological Museum). In 1991 he started to conduct a systematic catalogue; he identified specimens and supplied the collection by involving a wide circle of specialists from the FEB RAS. At that time other Vladivostok malacologists (M.B. Ivanova and G.M. Kamenev, IMB) also began to work with the collections of the Museum. A.V. Chernyshev (Chair of Zoology, FESU) and A.V. Martynov (IMB) did a great work on identifying bivalves and supplementing the collection with the freshwater mollusks they gathered.
Most bivalves of the collection were taken from the Russian Far East seas, mainly the Sea of Japan, by Museum specialists, students and professors of the FESU. Many bivalves were collected there by the IMB and TINRO specialists and were taken during expeditions of the RV Akademik Oparin, in which Museum specialists took part. Low boreal bivalve fauna is well represented in the collection, though the number of specimens is not that large, while the high boreal fauna is represented relatively poor. Some rare collections were taken in the Atlantic Ocean (coasts of America, western Africa, and Western Europe), in the basin of the Mediterranean Sea (Adriatic and Aegean, Black and Azov seas), in the Caspian and Baltic seas. Similarly small and rare are collections from the Arctic basin. Larger are collections from the Pacific and Indian oceans: from the East China, South China, Coral, Timor, and Andaman seas, from the Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Mexico, and the eastern coast of Africa. Some exotic species came to the Museum due to collaboration with the IMB, TINRO, and some enthusiastic collectors. Of course, this material is mostly for exhibitions and for use in educational activities, but some groups of specimens also obtain a scientific value and may be used for comparison in reviewing the faunas of these regions. It should be mentioned that both scientific and exhibition collections of tropical and subtropical Bivalvia are present in only several museums of Russia and, as for the Russian Far East, only in the Zoological Museum and IMB Museum.
In the 2000s the research collection of bivalves almost doubled mainly due to K.A. Lutaenko (1673 lots), who brings large collections from all his private trips and goes on to supervise the Museum collection even after becoming a researcher in the IMB, FEB RAS. He greatly contributed to the large collection of malacofauna of Vietnam, Hong Kong, Korea, China, India, as well as supplemented the Sea of Japan collection. A whole list of taxonomic and faunistic papers have been written based on this material, the most significant of which are:
Lutaenko, K.A. Bivalve mollusks in the beach drift of Peter the Great Bay (Sea of Japan). Vladivostok: Institut biologii morya DVO AN SSSR. Preprint No. 28, 1990. 51 p. [In Russian]
Lutaenko, K.A. Bivalve mollusks of Amursky Bay (Sea of Japan) and the adjacent areas. Part 1. Families Nuculidae – Cardiidae. Bulleten’ Dalnevostochnogo malakologicheskogo obschestva, 2002. No. 6. Pp. 5-60. [In Russian]
Lutaenko, K.A. Bivalve mollusks of Amursky Bay (Sea of Japan) and the adjacent areas. Part 2. Families Trapezidae – Periplomatidae. Ecological and biogeographical characteristics. Bulleten’ Dalnevostochnogo malakologicheskogo obschestva, 2003. No. 7. Pp. 5-84. [In Russian]
Lutaenko, K.A., Je, J.-G., Shin, S.-H. Bivalve mollusks in Yeongil Bay, Korea, 1. Introductory part and annotated list of species. Ocean and Polar Research. 2003. V. 25. No 2. Pp. 155-182.
Lutaenko, K.A., Je, J.-G., Shin, S.-H. Bivalve mollusks in Yeongil Bay, Korea. 2. Faunal analysis. The Korean Journal of Malacology. 2006. V. 22. No 1. Pp. 63-86.
Lutaenko, K.A. Bivalve mollusks of Ussuriysky Bay (Sea of Japan). Part 1. Bulleten’ Dalnevostochnogo malakologicheskogo obschestva, 2005. No. 9. Pp. 59-81.
Lutaenko, K.A. Bivalve mollusks of Ussuriysky Bay (Sea of Japan). Part 2. Bulleten’ Dalnevostochnogo malakologicheskogo obschestva, 2006. No. 10. Pp. 46-66.
Lutaenko, K.A. On the fauna of bivalve mollusks of the subfamily Anadarinae (Arcidae) from the southern India. Bulleten’ Dalnevostochnogo malakologicheskogo obschestva, 2006. No. 10. Pp. 102-121. [In Russian]
Lutaenko, K.A. On the fauna of bivalve mollusks of Hong Kong (South China Sea). Bulleten’ Dalnevostochnogo malakologicheskogo obschestva, 2013. No. 17. Pp. 79-141. [In Russian]
The last inputs include mollusks from North Korea, presented by the FEFU student I.P. Pretsiniek (50 lots), studied collections from Ulsan Bay and Jeju Is. (South Korea), coastal 
waters of Hong Kong (China) (presented by K.A. Lutaenko), as well as the material brought by the Museum specialists from Sakhalin. Bivalves gathered during expeditions were a great contribution to the Museum collection of Sakhalin bivalves, and now this collection includes 321 listed lots.
All data on the material entering the Museum must be listed in an electronic catalogue. The bivalve mollusks’ collection stored in the Zoological Museum were used by K.A. Lutaenko and R.J. Noseworthy (Canada) for compiling Catalogue of the Living Bivalvia of the Continental Coast of the Sea of Japan (Lutaenko, K.A., Noseworthy, R.G. Catalogue of the Living Bivalvia of the Continental Coast of the Sea of Japan (East Sea). Vladivostok: Dalnauka, 2012. 247 pp.).
A full catalogue of the collection was published in the 1990s and now is largely obsolete (Darkina, S.M., Lutaenko, K.A. Catalogue of the collection of bivalve mollusks in the Zoological Museum, Far East State University, Vladivostok. The Korean Journal of Malacology. 1996. V. 12. N 1. Pp. 53−83).
Freshwater bivalve mollusks
Of 455 lots (2340 specimens), 391 lots are members of the family Unionidae and 33 lots represent Margaritiferidae family. Families Amblemidae, Dreissenidae, and Pisidiidae are represented by less than ten lots.
This collection started in 1989 due to the contributions of Yu.N. Nazarov, M.G. Kazykhanova, A.V. Chernyshev, A.V. Martynov, and O.A. Burkovsky. In 1996 A.V. Martynov gave 474 shells to the Zoological Museum, which formed the bulk of the freshwater bivalve collection. Later mainly the Museum specialists contributed to this group of mollusks.
Though the geography of inputs is relatively wide (Bashkiria, Belarus, Russian Far East, European Russia, Mongolia, Southeast Asia, and Japan), more than half of the mollusks were gathered in Primorsky Krai (271) in the basins of the Ussury, Razdolnaya, Artyomovka, and Ryazanovka rivers and the Volchanskoe, Zapovednoe, and Khanka lakes.
Almost all shells of freshwater bivalves are stored dry. These shells are generally very fragile, and, to prevent cracking, the shells of Anodonta specimens are coated with PVA adhesive and stored in polyethylene bags to prevent drying. To make storage safer and the work with the shells more comfortable, each specimen is stored in a separate box. Some shells with soft tissues and glochidia larvae of Unionidae are fixed in 70% alcohol.
Dr. I.M. Moskvicheva (Khabarovsk Pedagogical Institute) helped a lot in identifying mollusks, and until the mid-1990s most part of this work was done by Dr. A.V. Chernyshev and Dr. A.V. Martynov. They described two new species and a subspecies based on this collection. A.V. Chernyshev continues to help in identifying specimens contributed to the Museum. However, many freshwater bivalves from the collection still need detailed revision and may become new for the science.
The collection includes some rarities, i.e. species listed in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation: Anemina buldowskii, Cristaria tuberculata, Margaritifera margaritifera, Dahurinaia dahurica, Dahurinaia laevis, Lanceolaria chankensi, Middendorffinaia arsenievi, Middendorffinaia mongolica, Middendorffinaia shadini, Middendorffinaia sujfunensis, Middendorffinaia ussuriensis, Sinanodonta primorjensis, as well as the largest freshwater mollusk in Russia, Cristaria plicata var. herculea, reaching a length of 30 cm.
Chitons (Loricata)
A collection of chitons (Loricata) includes 75 lots (158 specimens) belonging to 32 species from 7 families. It consists of collections sporadically gathered in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Commander and Kuril islands (Russia), Jeju Island (South Korea), along the Pacific coast of America, in the South China, Japan, and Yellow seas. Most specimens are fixed, 12 in 70% alcohol, and 22 lots are stored dry. Exhibition shows four specimens: fixed Cryptochiton stelleri and its dry shell and Acanthozostera gemmata from New Guinea.
Scaphopods, or Tusk Shells (Scaphopoda)
The collection of scaphopods is small, 84 specimens (22 lots). Several specimens were taken from the South China, Andaman, and Timor seas, from near New Zealand, Canada, Venezuela, and Jeju Island (South Korea). Specimens of Fissidentalium exasperatum (26) were received from the Republic of South Africa as a result of exchange with the Natal Museum. In the 2000s the collection was supplemented by the scaphopods from Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, and the Japanese Islands. There are also two specimens from pliocene sediments in Italy. The exhibition displays a small panel with three scaphopod specimens.
Cephalopods (Cephalopoda)
The collection of cephalopods (Cephalopoda) includes 208 lots (481 specimens): 86 species belonging to 35 families. Octopodidae and
Sepiidae are represented by ten species, Ommastrephidae by eight species. The collection includes some rare species: deep-water octopus Opistoteuthis californiana and squid Histioteuthis hoylei. The cephalopod specimens were received from various parts of the world. In the northwestern Pacific these mollusks (60 specimens) were collected by Z.B. Smetanina during the voyage of the RV Gerakl in 1981—1982. Cephalopods from the South China Sea (20 specimens) were brought by M.V. Pogiba and E.V. Slobodskoi. Eighteen specimens from New Zealand came from O.A. Petrov and A.G. Govorukha. Several specimens were collected also in the Russian Far East seas (Bering, Okhotsk, and Japan seas), the Fiji, East China, Coral, and Tasman seas.
Cephalopods were identified by G.A. Shevtsov, E.V. Slobodskoi (TINRO), and A.V. Chernyshev. In 1992 Dr. Kir N. Nesis (Institute of Oceanology, RAS, Moscow) worked with the collection. The world-renowned specialist on cephalopods checked and highly evaluated the previous identifications, found out the taxonomic positions of 10 specimens and discovered a specimen of a new for science species among the members of the genus Megalocranchia.
The collection includes several fossil cephalopods: ammonites and belemnites (elf-bolts). A shell of the most ancient of the extant cephalopod nautilus (Nautilus pompilius), a tiny argonaut (Argonauta argo) with a fragile shell, a cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis), a Japanese flying squid (Todarodes pacificus) and some other cephalopods (totally 27 species) are displayed at the Museum exhibition. Cephalopod specimens are stored in 4% formaldehyde, and shells and their fragments are stored dry.
Caudofoveates (Class Caudofoveata) are represented by a single specimen from the Sea of Okhotsk.
Solenogasters (Solenogastres) are represented by two specimens (2 lots) and shown at the exhibition. They are not identified to species. One specimen was collected in the Pacific Ocean (east of Hokkaido Is.), another one near the Orkney Islands.
© Zoological Museum of the Far Eastern Federal University
© I.E. Volvenko (text, photos)
© К.А. Lutaenko (editing)
© N.V. Miroshnikova (translation)
© Russian Far East Malacological Society