The Christoph Schubart Decapod Collections

Abstract Christoph D. Schubart is remembered as an outstanding carcinologist who left behind an enormous scientific legacy and a huge collaborative network with scientists from all over the world. Throughout his career, Christoph was also able to compile an extremely valuable crustacean collection, including physical specimens, DNA extracts, and tissues of many thousands of specimens. After his sudden death in early 2023, these valuable collections have been transferred from the University of Regensburg to the Leibniz Institute of Biodiversity Change (LIB). Molecular samples are now housed at the LIB Biobank in Bonn (ZFMK), and the physical specimens are deposited at the LIB Crustacea Collection in Hamburg (ZMH). The collections include marine (70%), freshwater (25%) and terrestrial (5%) material from all over the world. A preliminary list of the taxa potentially included in the collections is provided herein, which includes approximately 375 genera, 104 families, nine orders, and two crustacean classes. This note aims to provide the first insights into the Schubart collections and to encourage the scientific community to use this resource extensively, preserving the scientific legacy of Christoph Schubart, thus inspiring new emerging questions on decapod research.