Corresponding author: Paolo G. Albano (
Academic editor: Matthias Glaubrecht
The importance of natural history museums is often underappreciated, but they provide society with a number of services. Among these, they are a fundamental tool for assessing extinction rates and range contractions, or the only way to access species extinct in historical times. In this perspective, we describe here the collection of Unionida of the Museo di Zoologia dell’Università di Bologna, containing one extinct (
Natural history museums provide society with a number of indispensable, although often underappreciated, services in the fields of homeland security, public health and safety, agriculture, monitoring of environmental change, traditional taxonomy and systematics (
The ‘Museo di Zoologia dell’Università di Bologna’ is no exception. In its present form, it dates back to the 1930s, but it actually contains specimens dating back to the 16th century (collected by Ulisse Aldrovandi, 1522-1605). It was then enriched by the collections of F. Cospi (1609-1686) and L.F. Marsigli (1658-1730), and further developed during the 19th century, mainly due to the work of its directors C. Ranzani (1775-1841) and G.G. Bianconi (1809-1878), and 20th century, due to the commitment of A. Ghigi (1875-1970). The value of the museum as repository of specimens of extinct or endangered species has been already recognized for vertebrates; for example it contains a head of a great auk,
The Unionida is a diverse order of bivalves with ca. 840 species worldwide. The Neartic (especially the SE United States) has the highest concentration of Unionida diversity in the world, comprising ca. 300 species alone (
Our work recovered the collection of Unionida in the Museo di Zoologia dell’Università di Bologna, Italy, a collection dating back to the 19th century. This collection is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg among many other collections, hidden in the Italian fragmented natural history museum system. Our aims are therefore to highlight the value of historic natural history collections as repositories of specimens of extinct or endangered species. In a time of increased awareness of global biological changes, museums are valuable reservoirs of baseline information. Moreover, we wish to bring to the attention of the international scientific community the hidden treasures in the Italian museums, and foster research on their material.
We recovered the collection of North American Unionida, cleaned all specimens, labels and original boxes, and transferred them into zip-lock plastic bags along with all original labels. Also the original boxes, likely to belong to early 20th century were preserved. The most interesting lots were photographed. Identification was checked, nomenclature updated following the MUSSELp database (Graf and Cummings 2013), which proved particularly useful in tackling old names, and the conservation status of each species was recorded on the basis of published assessments (IUCN Red List, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). Samples were databased, and research into the biography of the main contributors to the collection performed. The collection also contains several lots from Europe, as well as samples from South America, Africa and Asia, which were cleaned, but not analysed in detail.
Eighty-six specimens of North-American Unionida are preserved in the Museum (Table
Of these 57 species, 10 (17.5%) are currently considered extinct or threatened by IUCN. In particular, one is considered extinct (
Most of the lots were received from M.E. Moricand (1779-1854) (Fig.
Museum collections are increasingly becoming the only source of information on extinction rates and range contractions, or the only way to access species extinct in historial times (
Even when the value of natural history collections as sources of long-term or past datasets is recognized (
List of North-American Unionida preserved at the Museo di Zoologia dell’Università di Bologna, Italy. Abbreviations: R.: River; IUCN: International Union for the Conservation of Nature; USFWS: United States Fish and Wildlife Service; IUCN categories: DD Data Deficient, LC Least Concern, NT Near Threatened, VU Vulnerable, EN Endangered, CR Critically Endangered, EX Extinct.
Species | Locality | Number of specimens | Source | Conservation status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ohio R. | 2 lots, three specimens | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
No locality | 2 lots, 2 specimens | Not known | Not evaluated | |
Connecticut R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen and 1 valve | M.J. Moricand | VU (IUCN) | |
Wabash R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | DD (IUCN) | |
Delaware R. | 1 lot, 2 specimens | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Delaware R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | DD (IUCN) | |
Ohio R. | 2 lots, 2 specimens | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Ohio R.; Mississippi R. | 2 lots, 2 specimens | M.J. Moricand; G. Capellini (1863) | LC (IUCN) | |
Ohio R. | 2 lots, 2 specimens | M.J. Moricand (1844) | CR (IUCN) | |
Cumberland R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | CR (IUCN), Endangered (USFWS) | |
Ohio R.; Mississippi R. | 2 lots, 2 specimens | M.J. Moricand; G. Capellini (1863) | NT (IUCN) | |
Delaware R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Altamaha R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | NT (IUCN) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Altamaha R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | DD (IUCN) | |
Ohio R.; Illinois | 2 lots, 2 specimens | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Maryland | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Altamaha R. | 2 lots, 2 specimens | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Tennessee | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | NT (IUCN) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | NT (IUCN) | |
Cumberland R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | EX (IUCN) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | Not evaluated (IUCN), Endangered (USFWS) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | CR (IUCN), Endangered (USFWS) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 2 specimens | M.J. Moricand | Not evaluated (IUCN), Endangered (USFWS) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | Not evaluated (IUCN), Endangered (USFWS) | |
Ohio R.; Mississippi R. | 2 lots, 4 specimens | M.J. Moricand; G. Capellini (1863) | LC (IUCN) | |
Delaware R. | 2 lots, 2 specimens | M.J. Moricand (1844) | EN (IUCN) | |
Lousiana | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Ohio | 2 lots, 3 specimens | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
– | 1 lot, 1 specimen | – | ||
Mississippi R., Louisiana | 2 lots, 2 specimens | G. Capellini (1863); M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Ohio | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | NT (IUCN) | |
Delaware R.; North America | 2 lots, 3 specimens | M.J. Moricand; Champlain | NT (IUCN) | |
Mississippi R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | G. Capellini (1863) | NT (IUCN) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Holston R. in Tennessee | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | NT (IUCN) | |
Ohio R.; Mississippi | 2 lots, 4 specimens | M.J. Moricand; G. Capellini (1863) | Not evaluated | |
Mississippi R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | G. Capellini (1863) | LC (IUCN) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | NT (IUCN) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | CR (IUCN), Endangered (USFWS) | |
Haleton R. | 2 lots, 3 specimens | M.J. Moricand | VU (IUCN) | |
North America | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | NT (IUCN) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
2 lots without label; third: Mississippi R. | 3 lots, 3 specimens | 2 lots without label; third: G. Capellini (1863) | LC (IUCN) | |
Altamaha R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | NT (IUCN) | |
Cumberland R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | NT (IUCN), Threatened (USFWS) | |
Mississippi R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | G. Capellini (1863) | LC (IUCN) | |
Ohio | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | CR (IUCN) | |
– | 1 lot, 1 specimen | – | Not evaluated | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | Not evaluated | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
North America; Ohio | 2 lots, 1 specimen and 1 valve | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Ohio R. | 1 lot, 3 specimens | M.J. Moricand | LC (IUCN) | |
Unidentified | – | 2 lots, 1 complete specimen and 1 valve | – | – |
Small streams in Pennsylvania | 1 lot, 1 specimen | M.J. Moricand | EN (IUCN) |
North-American Unionida of conservation concern in the Museo di Zoologia dell’Università di Bologna, Italy.
Examples of original labels of North-American Unionida in the Museo di Zoologia dell’Università di Bologna, Italy. A. M.E. Moricand’s label, in latin. B. Labels accompanying M.E. Moricand’s specimens in English. C. G. Capellini’s label.
North-American Unionida of conservation concern in the Museo di Zoologia dell’Università di Bologna, Italy.
We thank Arthur E. Bogan for his patient and long-lasting support to our work.