Disseminating “hidden” scientific collections: the medium and large-sized terrestrial mammals at the Museo di Anatomia Comparata “Giovanni Battista Grassi”, Roma, Italy

Abstract

The dissemination of specimen data in scientific collections is a crucial step in making them available to the scientific community. However, even today, especially in some countries, little or nothing is known about the contents of the naturalistic collections of some museums. This is regrettable, especially in cases where the collections include historic specimens and endangered species. The Museum of Comparative Anatomy “Giovanni Battista Grassi”, situated in Rome, Italy, houses historical anatomical and didactic collections, with specimens gathered from 1600s and almost worldwide. The collection holds 444 specimens of medium and large-sized terrestrial mammals, comprising 25 fossils, 40 skins, 186 skulls, 70 skeletons and 123 anatomical pieces, representing 63% of recent mammal orders, mainly from localities of Africa and Europe. A list of this material, indexed by the orders and families, is provided, as well as comments on the conservation status of the species. Remarkable data are summarised, including new data on a hippopotamus specimen from an extinct population and the record of three rhinoceros species from 1600s. Besides comparative anatomical studies, the Museum of Comparative Anatomy of Sapienza University emerges as a source of important material for biodiversity genomics.

Keywords

• 17<sup>th</sup> century
• natural history collectio