Donations and confiscated material: An important contribution to museum collections.

BARONE, M. L.; ESTALLES, C.; DAVIES, Y.; ATTINÁ, N.; TUBARO, P. L.; VILACOBA, E.; LIJTMAER, D. A.

Puerto Iguazú, Misiones

Congreso; Ornithological Congress of the Americas - XVII RAO - XXIV CBO - XVC AFO; 2017

Association of Field Ornithologists - Aves Argentinas - Sociedad Brasilia de Ornitología

Private and institutional donations and the incorporation of confiscated specimens in museum biological collections can complement the material deposited as a result of collecting trips. The objective of this analysis was to evaluate the contribution of donations and confiscated materials to the National Ultrafrozen Tissue Collection from the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia", using birds as a study case. Of 8892 bird tissue samples, 13% correspond to donations and 11% to confiscated specimens. In relation to donations, only 10% of them are blood samples (donated by institutions that have live animals), and the rest of them correspond to whole specimens. Regarding confiscated material, 62 species have been received, 26 of which are only represented in the collection as a result of confiscations. Anseriformes and Passeriformes are the most confiscated orders. Although, in most cases, the place of provenance of the confiscated material is unknown, this material source and the donations are very valuable for the mentioned collection. In fact, the samples acquired in this way had been used in several research projects. Both sources of material require working together with other institutions (governmental and private) and the awareness in society that a museum is the appropriate place to deposit biological material.