| Name | Collection of terrestrial slugs from Catalonia |
| Alternative name | MCNB. Col. terrestrial slugs Catalonia |
| Cite as | Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (MCNB). Collection of terrestrial slugs from Catalonia MCNB. Col. terrestrial slugs Catalonia |
| Description | Collection consisting of whole animals preserved in 70% ethanol (86% of lots) and dry shells. It contains around 735 specimens grouped in 357 lots. The taxonomic range includes the families Agriolimacidae, Arionidae, Limacidae, Milacidae and Testacellidae (most of the collection’s dry material corresponds to the latter family). The specimens originate from the four Catalan provinces, with a preponderance of material from the Lleida Pyrenees. The oldest lots (dry shells) belong to the Museum’s historical collections, including those of Francesc Martorell i Peña, Artur Bofill, Joan Baptista d'Aguilar-Amat, Manuel de Chía, Baltasar Serradell and Alejandro Torres, amongst others. Subsequent additions include dry material from the Miquel Bech collection and wet specimens collected by Oleguer Escolà and colleagues. The most recent wet specimens originate from various collection campaigns and research projects carried out by the Museum’s current Malacological Section. The whole collection has been registered, documented and digitalized to specimen lot level. Around 50% of the collection still needs 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 first specimens correspond to material from the Francesc Martorell i Peña shell collection and are part of the founder collection of the Museu Martorell (1879). Other historical collections that have provided slug specimens include those of Artur Bofill, Joan Baptista d'Aguilar-Amat, Manuel de Chía, Baltasar Serradell and Alejandro Torres. It is worth also mentioning the specimens received from collaborators and other sources linked to the Museum (e.g. Ascensi Codina, Carme Gelabert, Carmen Giménez and J. Maluquer). Subsequently, shells from the Miquel Bech collection were given to the Museum in 2009, along with wet slug specimens 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, of interest are studies on biodiversity, ecology and conservation (malacological campaigns in Vall d'Alinyà, Les Planes de Son and La Mata de València, and BioBosc) by malacologists such as Vicenç Bros, Jordi Cadevall, Elisabeth Hernández, Jordi Nebot and Albert Orozco. These studies have provided the most recent wet slug specimens and represent an significant increase in the size of the Museum’s collections. |
