The Scorpiones collection (RS) of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN - Paris)

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Description

This dataset is the databased part of the Scorpiones from the terrestrial arthropods collections of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (Paris). The MNHN scorpion collection is one of the most important in the world, due to a long tradition of work on this group at the museum. The collection began to be formed towards the middle of the 19th century and still contains types of some species described from this period by authors like Audouin, Savigny, Gervais and Guérin-Ménéville. The collection was considerably augmented during the period 1880‒1910 by E. Simon, who described numerous species either collected by himself or received through his extensive network of correspondents. During the 20th century scorpions were studied at the museum by Fage and by his successor, M. Vachon. Since the 1970s, systematic activity on the collection has continued intensively through the work of W. Lourenço, who was a student of Vachon. As a result, the collection is both large and rich, containing an unusually high proportion of type material. In addition to material studied by authors working at the museum, a significant part has come from outside sources, either through gift or exchange. Thus it also contains material studied by authorities such as R.I. Pocock, T. Thorell, K. Kraepelin, W.D. Sissom and V. Fet. The scorpion collection is worldwide in scope, but the best represented regions are tropical South America, North Africa, the Middle East, Western Africa, Madagascar and Southeast Asia. It contains over 9000 lots, including about 700 types, preserved in 80 % alcohol and stored in the museum’s Zoothèque. The collections are made available to external researchers, either through loans or visits, at the discretion of the curator. In cases where neither is feasible, photographic documentation of specimens may be provided on request.

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