Ampliação da coleção de mamíferos do Departamento de Biologia da UFC: exemplares osteológicos de mamíferos marinhos.

Abstract

Biological collections aim to store specimens as well as genetic, morphological, historical data, among other material and information. The Mammals Collection of the Department of Biology (UFC.M), of the Federal University of Ceará (UFC) is composed of terrestrial and flying mammal Specimens only. Given this lack of marine mammal specimens in the collection, the present study had the goal of expanding the UFC.M collection by including marine mammal specimens, as well as to characterize them. In order to do this, osteological specimens of marine mammals were received from the NGO Associação de Pesquisa e Preservação de Ecossistemas Aquáticos (Aquasis). The counting and cleaning of each bone piece, species identification, and formal cataloguing were carried out, as well as verifying the extinction risk status for each of the species. The Mammal Collection of the Federal University of Ceará (UFC.M) currently includes 15 osteological specimens of marine mammals, distributed in at least three species, Sotalia guianensis, Trichechus manatus and Megaptera novaeangliae, which are distributed in two orders, Cetartiodactyla and Sirenia. Most of the specimens come from the coast of Ceará, the only exception being one completely assembled specimen of S. guianensis, from Prado- BA, which was obtained through a donation from the Instituto Baleia Jubarte (IBJ). Among the 15 specimens, five are complete skeletons. The present study may contribute to the effort to curate marine mammal specimens already carried out by several Brazilian institutions. In addition, it may contribute to the formation of taxonomists in the Northeast region.