The molluscs collection (IM) of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN - Paris)

doi:10.15468/xgoxap

The molluscs collection (IM) of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN - Paris)

Citation

MNHN - Museum national d’Histoire naturelle (2018). The molluscs collection (IM) of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN - Paris). Version 70.72. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/xgoxap accessed via GBIF.org on 2018-08-20.

Description

The collection of marine, terrestrial and freshwater molluscs is primarily a scientific but also a historical and museological collection. It includes about 800 000 lots, totaling approximately 5 million specimens from around the world. These specimens are preserved as either dry collection (dried animals, shells) or in alcohol. The type collection contains 11 000 types of nominal species. The collection dates back to Michel Adanson (shells of Senegal, 1757) and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. It then increased through donations of amateur collectors, institutional legacies and purchases, and the activity of scientists from both the Museum and other institutions. This diversity of sources continues today, but large expeditions have been very important from the late eighteenth century through to the colonial era, a role they continue to play to this day. The “Tropical Deep-Sea benthos” oceanographic expeditions (formerly MUSORSTOM), launched in the early 1980s to sample the benthos of the tropical South and West-Pacific, have resulted in the collection becoming the best in the world for deep-sea faunas (100-1.500 m bathymetric zone). It is particularly rich in micromolluscs. Historical sections of the collection contain representatives of terrestrial and freshwater molluscs that are now extinct.

Taxonomic Coverages

Geographic Coverages

Bibliographic Citations

Contacts

MNHN
originator
position: Provider
MNHN

Simon Chagnoux
metadata author
email: gbifprovider@mnhn.fr

Philippe Bouchet
content provider

Barbara Buge
content provider

Jérôme Mainguy
content provider

Virginie Héros
content provider

Pierre Lozouet
content provider

Philippe Maestrati
content provider

Gilberto Marani
content provider

Pierre Lozouet
administrative point of contact
position: Correspondant
MNHN