The present paper documents all types of the diverse marine gastropod family Columbellidae held in the Malacological Collection of the Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin. Most prominently, there are numerous types of taxa described by Johannes Thiele for material collected during the German Deep Sea Expedition in 1898–1899. In addition, the collection houses types of taxa described by various German authors like Eduard von Martens, Wilhelm Dunker, Rudolph Amando Philippi, and Carl Theodor Menke as well as further type material that has been obtained by the museum from different sources. During the course of our investigation we were able to trace various type material on which any information had fallen into oblivion, or that was assumed to be lost. In summary, types of 71 species group taxa are documented in this paper and 38 lectotypes are designated in order to contribute to a stable taxonomy. We suggest the following new combinations for taxa treated herein: Aesopus adela (Thiele, 1925), Aesopus dianae (Thiele, 1925), Aesopus hella (Thiele, 1925), Aesopus meta (Thiele, 1925), Aesopus metella (Thiele, 1925), Aesopus ursula (Thiele, 1925), Aesopus veneris (Thiele, 1925), Anachis brunnescens (Thiele, 1925), Mitrella eminens (Thiele, 1925), Mitrella indifferens (Thiele, 1925), Mitrella innocens (Thiele, 1925), Mitrella macandrewi (Sowerby, 1905), Mitrella spiratella (Martens, 1880), Zafra aequatorialis (Thiele, 1925), Zafra fuscomaculata (Thiele, 1925), Zafra microstoma (Thiele, 1925), Zafra niasensis (Thiele, 1925), Zafra padangensis (Thiele, 1925), Zafra paulina (Thiele, 1925), Zafra sagittifera (Thiele, 1930), Zafra seminulum (Thiele, 1925), and propose the following synonymizations: Buccinum mitrula Dunker, 1849 = Costoanachis sparsa (Reeve, 1859), Columbella antillarum Reeve, 1859 = Costoanachis sparsa (Reeve, 1859), Columbella oerstedi Martens, 1897 = Costoanachis moesta (C. B. Adams, 1852), Columbella perlaevis G. B. Sowerby, 1905 = Euplica scripta (Lamarck, 1822), Columbella (Nitidella ) seychellarum Martens, 1904 = Euplica festiva (Deshayes, 1834), Euplica lipparinii Cossignani, 2005 = Euplica festiva (Deshayes, 1834), Euplica prellei Cossignani, 2005 = Euplica festiva (Deshayes, 1834), Euplica reticulata Cossignani, 2005 = Euplica festiva (Deshayes, 1834), Columbella alabastroides Kobelt, 1895 = Mitrella conspersa (Gaskoin, 1851), Columbella alabastrum Reeve, 1859 = Mitrella conspersa (Gaskoin, 1851), Columbella dunkeri Tryon, 1883 = Mitrella bicincta (Gould, 1860), Columbella delineata Thiele, 1925 = Pyreneola semipicta (Sowerby, 1894), Columbella malayensis Thiele, 1925 = Zafra minuta (Gould, 1860), Buccinum oryza Dunker, 1847 = Zafrona pulchella (Blainville, 1829), Columbella (Anachis) minuscula Gould, 1860 = Zafra pumila (Dunker, 1860), Anachis (Zafra) bifasciata Ardovini, 2005 = Zafra pumila (Dunker, 1860). (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)