Saving collections: taxonomic revision of the herpetological collection of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisbon (Portugal) with a protocol to rescue abandoned collections

Abstract

The herpetological collections of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisbon, are amongst the most important collections from the former Portuguese territories in Africa and Asia. The collection comprises more than 5000 preserved specimens, including type specimens of nine taxa, Trachylepis adamastor, Trachypelis thomensis, Panaspis thomensis, Naja peroescobari, Dalophia angolensis, Hemidactylus nzingae, Boaedon fradei, Platysaurus maculatus maculatus, and Platysaurus maculatus lineicauda. The collection was abandoned in the early years of 2000s and was at risk of being lost. In this paper the entire collection is reviewed, a catalogue provided of the extant specimens, and a brief account of the history of herpetological research at IICT given. Details are also provided on the recovery of the collection and a protocol to rescue abandoned collections.

Biodiversity in the Gulf of Guinea Oceanic Islands: A Synthesis

“…Similarly, thousands of scientific specimens are held in natural history collections around the world, providing the baseline to our present knowledge and enabling exciting new findings and research. Many of these collections have not been included in recent studies and some have only recently been rehabilitated and once more made accessible to the scientific community (e.g., Monteiro et al 2016;Ceríaco et al 2021). For such a small area, the Gulf of Guinea oceanic islands may be one of the most intensively studied parts of Africa (e.g., Droissart et al 2018).…”

The Terrestrial Reptiles of the Gulf of Guinea Oceanic Islands

“…Most of the specimens were housed in the collections of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (IICT), in Lisbon, Portugal, but in 2016 they were incorporated into the collections of the Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência (MUHNAC), of the University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal. A total of 157 reptile specimens from these expeditions are still extant in these collections Ceríaco et al 2021b).…”

Reconnecting research and natural history museums in Italy and the need of a national collection biorepository

“…At best museums survived as places where to preserve historical collections; when space was available, a few private collections were also accepted after their owners’ death. In some cases, the historical scientific collections were neglected or abandoned, a circumstance sadly shared by other European countries too ( Krištufek et al 2015 ; Ceríaco et al 2021 ).…”