Across the Pacific
1,100,502 specimens from the collections of Bishop Museum, 1754 to today, each one lit on the map where it was found.
Open the full map42,336 type specimens645,646 photographed50,882 collectors
Ten departments, one collection
Each department cares for its own specimens and tells its own story. Pick one to meet the people, the holdings and the research.
Archaeology
The cultural heritage of Hawai‘i and its ancestral cultures across the Pacific
Botany
545,392 specimens online
Entomology
64,870 specimens online
Ethnology
Cultural treasures of Hawai‘i, Oceania, and Hawai‘i’s immigrant communities
Ichthyology
41,212 specimens online
Invertebrate Zoology
48,107 specimens online
Library & Archives
Rare books, one million photographs, and the largest collection of Hawaiian-language newspapers
Malacology
298,358 specimens online
Molecular Biodiversity
The primary cryorepository for Pacific-wide biodiversity
Vertebrate Zoology
95,797 specimens online
Behind the doors
Pacific Collections: New Guinea Lazarus Species
Two New Guinea marsupials, long thought extinct, rediscovered with help from the Vertebrate Zoology collection.
Every specimen in this collection is a record of where something lived, and when. Some of them turn out to be the last word on a species, and a few, as here, the first word in a long time.
Vertebrate ZoologyOut of the cabinets
645,646 specimens have been photographed so far. A few at random — every one links to its record.
Conus regius, 1950
Gracilaria longissima
Crepidomanes draytonianum, 1919
Cibotium regale, 1904
Strobilanthes heyneana, 1974
Tornatellaria, 1924
Philonesia, 1928
Abutilon indicum, 1960
Blechnum appendiculatum, 1997
Alpinia vittata, 1965
Asplenium normale, 2022
Crotalaria incana
Lamprocystis, 1938
Kadua acuminata, 1990
Jania adhaerens, 1946
Alaria esculenta, 1966
Adiantum hispidulum, 1934
Sporobolus elongatus, 1984
Achatinella juncea, 1915
Bulbophyllum, 1993The library
824
publications of the Hawaii Biological Survey, 1992–2026
340 of them readable in place and searchable to the page — 11,529 pages of species, places and findings. Ask the library a question and it answers from the papers, citing each one.
Latest with a PDF
- Uncovering cryptic coral species in Japan’s precious coral fishery: Conservation and sustainable management implications
Takata, K., Hayashibara, T., Nonaka, M., Lendvay, B., Tu, T., Costantini, F., Bolick, H., Namikawa, H., Ishikawa, N., Suyama, Y., Kikuchi, T., Iguchi, A., Yasuda, N. · 2026
- Imada, C.T., Faccenda, K., Thomas, M.K., Gallaher, T., Oppenhemier, H., Kennedy, B. & Kalei, A. (eds.) Hawaiian native & naturalized vascular plants checklist (2025 update). 780 pp. [published online 6 November 2025]
· 2025
- First record of Mieniplotia scabra (Gastropoda: Thiaridae) in Hawaiʻi: Another non-native introduction to Hawaiʻi’s already imperiled freshwater systems
Hayes, K.A., Slapcinsky, J., Atta, C., Strong, E.E., Derne, B.T., Kinzler, T.P., Hill, M.M.Y., Kim, J.R. & Yeung, N.W. · 2025
- Liverworts (Marchantiophyta) of the Kauaʻi summits, Hawaiʻi, with two new state records and five new island records
Judziewicz, E.J., Faccenda, K. & Frieire, A.V. · 2025
- Rediscovery of *Melanesobasis* Donnelly, 1984 (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) in Vanuatu reveals a pattern of vicariance in insular damselflies
Saxton, N.A., G.S. Powell, B. Rashni, C.R. Jensen, C.D. Beatty, D.A. Polhemus, M. Marinov, and S. Bybee · 2025
The people
Behind every label, a name
50,882 collectors and expeditions put their names on the specimens. Each has a page: where and when they collected, what they wrote, the species named after them, and who they worked beside.
Meet the collectors ›
Ditlev Due Thaanum1895–1986.jpg?width=480)
Wayne N. Takeuchi1864–1942
Joseph F. Rock1884–1962_(14579185508).jpg?width=480)
Walter M. Giffard1856–1929
D.B. LangfordD. B. Langford1711–1774
Wesley M. Thorsson1847–1915
Ted E. {should Be D.} Dranga1902–1968
L.A. Thurston L.A. ThurstonL.A. Thurston1858–1931
Timothy Flynn1847–1927
Hank L. Oppenheimer1899–1971
Two marsupials back from extinction
Long believed extinct and known only from fossils, two New Guinea marsupials have been rediscovered as living species in western New Guinea — with Bishop Museum scientists on the papers.
2,876
published studies have used Bishop Museum data
Counted by GBIF. The most recent:
- Convergence, stability, and thermal adaptation of the rubisco large subunit in plantsLeung, Chang, Sage, Evolution, 2026
- Comparative morphology and cytogenetics of the rare helophytes Scolochloa festucacea and S. marchica (Poaceae)Röser, Tkach, Winterfeld, Flora, 2026
- A quantitative classification of chorotypes for the Socotra Archipelago’s non-endemic plantsLa Montagna, Fanelli, De Sanctis et al., Vegetation Classification and Survey, 2026
- From Miocene Origins to Ecological Diversification: Unraveling Evolutionary Dynamics of North American Asters (Symphyotrichum)Dahal, 2026
- Occurrence-based models reveal greater spatial details in tropical species richnessOliveira, Soares-Filho, Research Square, 2026
Specialist databases
Deeper tools kept by the departments themselves.
- HHRI Online Fishhook Database
- Hawaiian Archaeological Survey (HAS)
- Rapa Nui Interactive Radiocarbon Database
- Manuscript Database
- Hawaiian Ethnobotany Online
- Plants of Hawai‘i
- Macroalgal Herbarium Portal
- Papuan Plants Project
- Invasive Algae of Hawai‘i
- Hawaiian Kalo
- Ethnology Database
- GBIF
- iDigBio
- FishNet 2
- Invertebrate Zoology Checklist
- Marine Invertebrate Occurrence Records
- Hawaiian Ethnological Notes (HEN)
- Anthropology Manuscripts
- Anthropology Projects
- Hawai‘i Pacific Journal Index
- Hawai‘i Sheet Music Index
- PILSBRy
Be a part of our story
Celebrate the extraordinary history, culture, and environment of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific with a gift to Bishop Museum. As a partner in the Museum’s work, you help sustain the collections, the research and the knowledge behind every record on this site.
