| Name | Collection of terrestrial slugs |
| Alternative name | MCNB. Col. terrestrial slugs |
| Cite as | Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (MCNB). Collection of terrestrial slugs MCNB. Col. terrestrial slugs |
| Description | Collection consisting of whole animals preserved in 70% ethanol (76% of lots) and dry shells. In all, 980 specimens grouped in 456 lots, including three lots with six type specimens. The taxanomic scope of the collection covers the families Agriolimacidae, Arionidae, Limacidae, Milacidae, Parmacellidae and Testacellidae (the two latter families contain most of the collection’s dry material). Almost all the samples are from the Iberian Peninsula: 93% of lots from Spain, with 78% of the total lots from Catalonia, mainly from the Pyrenees; the remaining lots are Ibero-Balear in origin, with a few from Europe, North Africa and South-East Asia. The oldest lots (dry shells) are from the Museum’s historical collections such as those of Francesc Martorell i Peña, Artur Bofill, Joan Baptista d'Aguilar-Amat, Joan Rosals, Manuel de Chía and Baltasar Serradell. Collections incorporated subsequently include dry material collected by Luis Gasull and Miquel Bech, and wet material collected by Oleguer Escolà and colleagues. The most modern wet material originates from various collection campaigns and research projects carried out by the present-day Malacological Section of the Museum. Type specimens of taxa described by Vicent Borredà and Alberto Martínez-Ortí have also been incorporated. The whole collection has been registered, documented and digitalized to specimen lot level. Around 45% of the lots still need to be determined. Data of a part of the collection can be consulted on-line at the website of the Barcelona Natural History Museum, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. |
| Provenance | The oldest specimens in the collection correspond to shells collected by Francesc Martorell i Peña, which formed part of the Martorell Museum’s founder collection (1879). Other historical collections containing slugs include those of Artur Bofill, Joan Baptista d'Aguilar-Amat, Joan Rosals, Manuel de Chía, Baltasar Serradell and Alejandro Torres. Of interest too are the contributions made by other collaborators and entities linked to the Museum (e.g. Rafael Candel, Ascensi Codina, Carme Gelabert, Carmen Giménez, J. Maluquer and others). Subsequently, the collection has incorporated shells from the collections of Luis Gasull and Miquel Bech, donated to the Museum in 1983 and 2009, respectively, as well as wet samples of slugs collected by Oleguer Escolà and colleagues, many from subterranean habitats. Francesc Uribe has been the curator of the Department of Non-Arthropod Invertebrates since 1997 and since then the inventory and digitalization of the Museum’s whole collection has been carried out to specimen lot level. In the field of research, it is worth noting the studies on biodiversity and ecology focussing largely on the management of natural areas in Catalonia that have been conducted by the malacologists Vicenç Bros, Jordi Cadevall, Elisabeth Hernández, Jordi Nebot and Albert Orozco. These studies have generated the most recent wet slug specimens, which have increased considerably the Museum’s total collection. Qualitatively, of most interest are the type specimens deposited in the Museum corresponding to three new species described by Vicent Borredà and Alberto Martínez-Ortí. |
