| Name | Cnidarians collection from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) |
| Alternative name | MCNB. Col. cnidarians Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) |
| Cite as | Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (MCNB). Cnidarians collection from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC). MCNB. Col. cnidarians Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) |
| Description | Collection of Cnidaria belonging to the Institute of Marine Science (CSIC) donated to the Museum in 2012, consisting of whole organisms preserved in liquid and dry skeletons. The collection originates from the research programmes led by Josep M. Gili Sardà and other researchers in the fields of taxonomy, ecology and biogeography. The donation was facilitated by the Ministry of Economy and Competition (Ref. CGL2011-14605-E) as part of the project to create an infrastructure in the Museum for this international reference collection of Cnidaria. This material, along with material from the University of Seville donated to the Museum as part of this project, has enriched considerably the Museum's collection of Cnidaria from both quantitative (number of lots) and a qualitative (diversity of taxa and type specimens) perspectives. The collection of the Institute of Marine Science consists of 379 lots corresponding to 160 species. The geographical origin of the specimens includes the western Mediterranean (with abundant material from the Catalan coast), the southeast Atlantic (coasts of South Africa, Namibia, Angola), Antarctic (Weddell Sea) and other localities such as Laing Island (Papua New Guinea) and Guinea-Bissau. The taxonomic range covers the classes Hydrozoa (79% of lots), Anthozoa (16%), Scyphozoa (4%) and Cubozoa (1%), encompassing 17 orders, of which the best represented are the Siphonophorae, with over 100 lots. Most of the specimens originate from oceanographical research campaigns on board the vessels Discovery and Polarstern, carried out in recent decades. Documentary control of the lots to inventory level. |
| Provenance | The collection originates from the research programmes led by Josep M. Gili Sardà and other researchers in recent decades and includes new species described by the author of the collection and collaborators, and their type specimens. The specimens from the south Atlantic and the Antarctic that were collected from the 1960s onwards during oceanographic campaigns (some on the oceanographic research vessels Polarstern and Polarstern) represent the main part of the collection. The acquisition by the Museum of the collection, formerly held by the Institute of Marine Science (CSIC), was made possible by the Ministry of Economy and Competition (Ref. CGL2011-14605-E) who facilitated the creation of an infrastructure for this international reference collection of Cnidaria (2012). |
