| Name | Collection of type specimens of non-arthropod invertebrates |
| Alternative name | MCNB. Col. type specimens non-arthropod invertebrates |
| Cite as | Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (MCNB). Collection of type specimens of non-arthropod invertebrates MCNB. Col. type specimens non-arthropod invertebrates |
| Description | Collection consisting of type specimens of non-arthropod invertebrates, either dry, wet in ethanol, in microscopic preparations or in stubs for SEM. It consists of around 2400 specimens belonging to 156 taxa grouped in 326 lots, and includes both continental and marine fauna from the phylums Briozoa, Cnidaria, Mollusca, Nematoda and Platyhelmintha. Numerically, the best represented group is the continental molluscs (70% of lots and 80% of taxa), followed by the Cnidaria and other phyla. The collection has a wide-ranging geographical scope: the continental molluscs are largely from the Iberian Peninsula (above all Catalonia), with some from Morocco. The origin of the remaining specimens is more diverse: Mediterranean, southern Atlantic and Antarctic (marine specimens), and Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Tanzania and Thailand (parasitic worms belonging to the phyla Nematoda and Platyhelmintha). The oldest lots (continental molluscs) originate from the Museum’s historical collections made by collectors such as Artur Bofill, Joan Baptista d'Aguilar-Amat, Joan Rosals and Manuel de Chía. The most recent material corresponds to collections or samples donated in recent years by Luis Gasull and Miquel Bech (shell collections), the Institute of Marine Sciences (Spanish National Research Council), the University of Seville (reference collection of Cnidaria and Bryozoa), and the University of Barcelona (Nematoda and Platyhelmintha). The classic collections campaigns conducted by malacologists associated with the Museum and the expeditions and research projects set up by universities and other scientific institutions have provided the Museum with the bulk of its type specimens. Data from a part of the collection can be consulted on-line at the website of the Barcelona Natural History Museum, on the Wikicollecta platform (web Bioexplora) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility website, as well as in published type catalogues. The type specimens have been incorporated into ZooBank (official register of zoological nomenclature). |
| Provenance | The setting up of the type-specimen collection began in the 1990s as one of the priorities of the Department of Non-Arthropod Invertebrates headed by Francesc Uribe. In the case of the molluscs, the most numerous of all the groups, dry type-specimens are found in the historical collections by Artur Bofill, Joan Baptista d'Aguilar-Amat, Joan Rosals, Manuel de Chía and the Royal Academy of Science and Arts of Barcelona. These collections with their corresponding type specimens were merged during the reorganization of the malacological section of the Museum undertaken by A. Bofill i Poch (1891–1929) and J. B. d’Aguilar-Amat (1929–1936). The location, segregation and documentation of the type series carried out recently by the Department, along with the validation and introduction of nomenclatural acts (by the malacologist A. Martinez-Ortí), were vital steps in the organization of this collection of mollusc type-specimens. Other important sources of material are the collections belonging to L. Gasull and M. Bech (authors of most of the newly included taxa), which have been subject to a similar process regarding the management of their type specimens. The most recently added taxa include donations of taxa described by C. R. Altaba, J. Corbella, B. Kokshoorn, A. Martínez-Ortí, C. Prieto and A. I. Puente, amongst others (both dry and wet specimens). Type specimens of the non-mollusc invertebrates have been given to the Museum in recent years by investigators belonging to institutions such as the University of Barcelona (Nematoda and Platyhelmintha), Institute of Marine Sciences (Spanish National Research Council) and the University of Seville (Cnidaria and Bryozoa), with the backing (in the case of the Cnidaria) of the Ministry of Economy and Competiveness (Ref. CGL2011-14605-E). The authors of the new taxa (and also the donors) include researchers such as J. C. Casanova, J. M. Gili, O. González-Moreno, M. Gracenea, P. López-González, T. Madurell, A. Ribas and M. Zabala. The type collection includes samples collected during a number of different campaigns and expeditions: the classic expeditions in Catalonia and to western Morocco, and the oceanographic expeditions to the south Atlantic and the Antarctic conducted by members of the Institute of Marine Sciences and the University of Seville. The publicizing of the collection has been carried out via the website of the Barcelona Natural History Museum, on the Wikicollecta platform (web Bioexplora) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility website, as well as in published type catalogues. The type specimens have been incorporated into ZooBank (official register of zoological nomenclature). |
