| Name | Polyplacophorans collection |
| Alternative name | MCNB. Col. polyplacophorans |
| Cite as | Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (MCNB). Polyplacophorans collection MCNB. Col. polyplacophorans |
| Description | Collection of Polyplacophora molluscs consisting of dry shells (99% of lots) and whole organisms preserved in ethyl alcohol 70%. In all, there are 710 specimens grouped in 224 lots, corresponding to around 50 species. Most of the material belongs to the Museum's historical collection (original collection of Francesc Martorell and collections of Antoni de Samà, Artur Bofill, Joan Baptista d'Aguilar-Amat, Joan Rosals, Baltasar Serradell, José Giner and Manuel de Chía). More recent additions include specimens from the collection of Joan Rosal i Sagalés. Geographically, the collection covers mainly the Mediterranean (above all, Catalan and Balearic coasts), along with a few specimens from the Pacific (mainly California), Atlantic and Indian (Southeast Asia) oceans. The whole collection has been registered, documented and digitalized to specimen-lot level. Data from a part of the collection (less than half) can be consulted on-line on the website of the Barcelona Natural History Museum and the portal GBIF. Representative specimens from the collection have been displayed in the Museum's permanent exhibition. |
| Provenance | The first specimens came from the shell collection of Francesc Martorell i Peña and were part of the original collection of the Martorell Museum (1879). The Polyplacophora collection also includes shells from the collection of Antoni de Samà (added in around 1914) corresponding to marine molluscs from the Catalan coast. The addition of the collections of Aguilar-Amat, Artur Bofill and Joan Rosals in 1917-1920 increased the Museum's collection significantly. Further material came from other historical collections that were added subsequently, including specimens from the collections of Manuel de Chía (1923), Baltasar Serradell (1931) and José Giner (1932). Under the direction of Artur Bofill i Poch (1892-1929) and then Joan Baptista d’Aguilar-Amat (1929-1936) the malacological section began to be reorganized and all the different collections were united and the nomenclature revised (all the original labels have been preserved). The most recent additions (around 30 lots from the coasts of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands) belong to the collection of Joan Rosal i Sagalés and were donated in 2000. Francesc Uribe has been curator of the Museum's non-Arthropod Invertebrate collection since 1997. During his time in charge, the registration, documentation and computerization to specimen-lot level has been completed. |
