The University of Arizona Invertebrate Collection consists of approximately 20,000 lots of invertebrates from all of the major metazoan phyla. The most significant components of the collection are dried mollusk shells and arthropods preserved in 70% ethanol. Species indigenous to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, including the Gulf of California, form the majority of the holdings. A collection of dried mollusk shells from the Philippines and the endowed
Benton Shell Collection are also important components of the collection. The Invertebrate Collection was built primarily by the former curators, Dr. Albert R. Mead (1950s to 1967) and Dr. Walter B. Miller (1967 to 1980s).