Guide to collections


Collection of type specimens of molluscs

Name Collection of type specimens of molluscs
Alternative name MCNB. Col. type specimens molluscs
Cite as Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (MCNB). Collection of type specimens of molluscs
MCNB. Col. type specimens molluscs
Description Collection of type specimens of molluscs consisting of dry shells (95% of lots) and whole organisms preserved in ethanol. In all, 2250 specimens belonging to 128 taxa, grouped into 236 lots. The collection includes terrestrial and freshwater fauna of different groups of gastropods; nevertheless, the dominant groups are the families Chondrinidae and Hygromiidae (in all, over 60% of lots). The geographical range of the collection covers the Iberian Peninsula (almost 80% of lots), Balearic Islands (17%), Morocco and the Canary Islands. Amongst the Iberian specimens, fauna from Catalonia (just under 50% of all lots), followed by Valencia, Aragon and the rest of the Peninsula predominate. The oldest lots correspond to the Museum's historical collection such as those of Artur Bofill, Joan Baptista d'Aguilar-Amat, Joan Rosals and Manuel de Chía, amongst others. Subsequently, type specimens from the collections of Luis Gasull and Miquel Bech have been incorporated. The most recent additions to the collection have been donated to the Museum by malacologists from a number of different institutions and research centres, both from in and outside Spain. The whole collection has been registered, documented and digitalized to specimen lot level. Data from 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 of the mollusc collections have been incorporated into ZooBank (official register of zoological nomenclature).
Provenance The origins of the collection of mollusc type-specimens began at the end of the 1990s as one of the priorities of the Department of Non-Arthropod Invertebrates headed by Francesc Uribe. It contains dry specimens from historical collection such as those of Artur Bofill, Joan Baptista d'Aguilar-Amat, Joan Rosals, Manuel de Chía, and the Royal Academy of Science and Arts of Barcelona. These collections and the type specimens they contain were initially merged during the reorganization of the malacological section undertaken by A. Bofill i Poch (1891–1929) and J. B. d’Aguilar-Amat (1929–1936). Subsequently, essential work – the location, segregation, documentation and revision of the type series – has been carried out on this collection. The validation of the taxa and the introduction of the nomenclatural acts have been carried out by malacologists such as Edmund Gittenberger (revision of the Chondrinidae in the 1970s) and, more recently, by Alberto Martinez-Ortí. Other important sources of specimens have been the collections of Luis Gasull and Miquel Bech (authors of most of the new taxa), which have been incorporated into the collection following a similar process regarding the treatment of the type specimens. The most recent donations include taxa described by Cristian R. Altaba, Jordi Corbella, Serge Gofas, Bas Kokshoorn, Alberto Martínez-Ortí, Carlos Prieto and Ana Isabel Puente, amongst others (wet and dry specimens). The type-specimen collection includes samples collected during the Museum’s classic campaigns in the Pyrenees and western Morocco. 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).