Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkish Journal of Bioscience and Collections, sa.1, ss.1-8, 2022 (Hakemli Dergi)
Objective: Natural History Museums are important organizations that increase the
awareness of the public on biodiversity, nature, and its conservation. Museums or
collections like these, enable the recognition of organisms that are now extinct or that
cannot always be seen in nature. Thus, the establishment of such collections can be very
useful for the formation of nature consciousness. In this study, the aquatic Mollusca
Catalog of the Limnology Museum of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (COMULM)
is presented.
Materials and Methods: The specimens of the collection were identified according to
the identification references under a stereomicroscope and fixed with 80 % alcohol or
remained dry in glass vials or plastic tubes. All the materials were labeled and transferred
to the multi-drawer archive cabinet in the Marine and Inland Water Laboratory, Faculty
of Marine Science and Technology. This catalog, which contains 53 taxa, includes local
endemics and common taxa as well as invasive-exotic taxa mainly from Turkey. The list
of the Mollusca catalog was presented by following the current taxonomic nomenclature.
Results: According to the results, nine of the Mollusca belong to Bivalvia and the 44
of which are Gastropoda. In total, 2301 specimens were counted in the catalog, and the
species with the highest specimen number (419 individuals) is Physella acuta. Considering
the geographical distributions of the Mollusca species in this catalog, the eleven species of
freshwater gastropods in the catalog are endemic to Turkey, whereas three of the freshwater
gastropods are endemic to the Middle East, Balkans, and some of the Greek Islands in the
Aegean Sea. On the other hand, some gastropod species are not naturally found in our
aquatic systems, which were collected from ornamental purpose aquariums.
Conclusion: In this context, the Mollusca museum of the COMULM is capable of
contributing to Turkey’s faunistic studies by enabling taxonomic comparisons and
investigations to the scientists