Allen Collins

Portrait of Allen Collins

Allen Collins

Smithsonian and NOAA Research Zoologist & Curator

I lead the National Systematics Lab of NOAA Fisheries, a lab embedded within the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), where I am the curator of the US National collections of Medusozoa, Ctenophora and Porifera. After receiving a BA in Mathematics and Economics from Amherst College in 1987, I worked for four years as a research economist, before turning towards biology and eventually completing a PhD at the University of California Berkeley in 1999. 

I study the biodiversity and systematics of Medusozoa (jellyfishes, hydroids, siphonophores, etc.), Ctenophora (comb jellies) and Porifera (sponges). I started my position with NOAA and Smithsonian NMNH in 2004 and began my affiliation with the UMD BEES program in 2005, with which I have co-advised several graduate students.

Latest Papers

Accounting for Intra‐ and Intergenomic Sequence Variation in Reference Barcodes Improves eDNA Metabarcoding Biodiversity Assessment

| Molecular Ecology Resources
Author(s): Luke J. McCartin, Samuel A. Vohsen, Annemarie L. Wood, et. al
UMD Author(s): Allen Collins


First observations of Depastrum cyathiforme (M. Sars, 1846) (Cnidaria, Staurozoa) after nearly five decades

| Zootaxa
Author(s): LUCÍLIA SOUZA MIRANDA, GUY FREEMAN, ALLEN GILBERT COLLINS
UMD Author(s): Allen Collins


Deep-sea siliceous sponges harbor distinct and functionally diverse microbiomes


Author(s): Katherine R. Lane, Kirstin S. Meyer-Kaiser, Adena B. Collens, et. al
UMD Author(s): Allen Collins


Species-specific primer development for identifying the major jellyfish contributors to DNA in the sediments


Author(s): Dhugal Lindsay, Javier Montenegro, Jennifer Questel, et. al
UMD Author(s): Allen Collins


Investigating faunal diversity and abundance in the Marianas midwater

| Frontiers in Marine Science
UMD Author(s): Allen Collins


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