Collections of extant cetaceans in Italian museums and other scientific institutions. A comparative review

Submitted: 20 February 2014
Accepted: 20 February 2014
Published: 1 September 2012
Abstract Views: 1315
PDF: 899
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

This paper summarizes more than four decades of cetacean research data collected by the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano and, between 1986 and 2003, by the Centro Studi Cetacei of the Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali. It is the result of the collaboration among scientists of several Italian museums. A detailed analysis concerning the amount and taxonomic representative- ness of the extant cetacean collections in Italian naturalistic museums and analogous institutions up until and including 2007 has been carried out. Adequately preserved and anatomically most significant specimens only have been taken into consideration. On the whole 1033 specimens representing 41 species are considered herein. They are housed in 53 institutions, of which the following ones hold the most important collections: the museums of Calci (Pisa), Genova, Firenze, Milano, Roma Zoology, Siena, Comiso and Napoli. All the surveyed institutions are listed, with a short introduction about their material and an inven- tory of it. Specimens are then arranged in systematic order and some further data are provided in a table for each species. Such tables report the items of each museum with regard to quantity, preserva- tion techniques and, whenever possible, collecting data. Finally, a comparative analysis of the results is presented under multiple profiles: historical, preservation techniques, suitability of the specimens for research, place of origin, and the importance of the Italian cetacean collections for research and education.

 

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

How to Cite

Cagnolaro, L., Podestà M., Affronte, M., Agnelli, P., Cancelli, F., Capanna, E., … Wurtz, M. (2012). Collections of extant cetaceans in Italian museums and other scientific institutions. A comparative review. Natural History Sciences, 153(2), 145–202. https://doi.org/10.4081/15

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.