Natural scientific collections

Zoology

Collection fund of the invertebrate

This collection consists of 119 collections including 103,382 collection items. The largest representation in it belongs to butterflies and beetles but there are also many other groups of animals as molluscs, hymenoptera, dipteral insect, stoneflies, springtails, dragonflies, spiders, heteroptera and outer parasites of animals.
Both the most significant and the most numerous collection is Patočka’s collection of butterflies in the Center of Europe, which consists of 25 333 exhibits with approximately 85% coming from the Central Slovakia region. The collection is a result of almost 50 years of scientific work of Doc. RNDr. Ján Patočka, DrSc. Already in the past it served as a substantial database for catalogues and lists of species living in Slovakia and in Europe. There are represented even quite many new species. Besides that, there can be found even some unique findings of the potentially new species, which inspire a constant interest of the specialists from Slovakia but especially from other European countries.
The second largest is Lačík’s collection of the Central Slovakia butterflies (14,968 exemplars). After that there follows Svozil’s collections of the beetles from Europe, Asia, Africa, Central and South America (11,344 exemplars). The collection fund is also made of 11 collections of molluscs – 2 largest collections were made and all the other were identified by a significant Slovak malacologist RNDr. J. Šteffek, CSc.

Wainscot (Syngrapha microgamma) (collection of J. Patočka) – crucially threatened night moth of the peat mosses is protected as a species of the national importance; in the north of Slovakia there goes the southern border of its radiation.	Damon Blue (collection of R. Lačík) – crucially threatened butterfly, protected as a species of the national importance, which occurs in the sunny hillsides of the medium high limestone mountain ranges in Slovakia.
Jewell beetle (Poecilonota rutilans) (collection of A. Svozil) – a precious beetle, which develops under the lime-tree bark. In Slovakia, it is protected as a species of national importance.	Door snail (Clausilia dubia carpatica) (collection of J. Šteffek) – a tiny univalve snail bound to Carpathian limestone mountain ranges, in Slovakia it is protected as a species of the national importance.

Collection fund of the vertebrate

The collection of the vertebratological museum objects contains 4861 pieces of specimens: 761 pieces of the dermoplastic specimens, 1454 fur skin specimens and rugs, 1161 various osteological specimens, 1 set of 200 pieces of various specimens, 1213 pieces of liquid specimen, 41 pieces of oological material, 4 pieces of nidologic material, 24 shells and 3 exuviae.
The collection is formed of 35 % of mammals, 40 % of birds, 12% of amphibians, 9 % of fishes, 3 % of reptiles, and 1 % of invertebrates. The oldest collection objects with detailed data come from 1954. In the permanent exposition Nature of the Central Slovakia there are exhibited 288 pieces of dermoplastic specimens, 1 fur skin and 30 liquid specimens.

The most valuable collection objects in scientific way there are 3 specimens to mention, which document the occurrence of very rare species in Slovakia; it is Bewick’s swan (Cygnus bewickii) with acquisition date 5th January 1957 near Badín, SLÁDEK (in litt.), then Arctic tern (Sterna a paradisea) of 31st May 1972 from Revišťské Podzámčie and Pallid harrier (Circus macrourus) of 10th June 1957 near Nová Baňa, KICKO (in litt.).
Bewick’s swan has been observed in Slovakia just for 6 times; this specimen remains one of the few, if not the only material proof from the area of Slovakia.

Arctic tern is an extremely rare species of seagull bird in Slovakia.
There has been made three observations in out country. Objective bird is the only proof from the area of Slovakia.

Pallid harrier is a rare migrant in Slovakia. There has been noted very few proofs of the occurrence of this particular harrier in the museum and university collections in Slovakia.