Caracterização estrutural da coleção de mamíferos da Universidade Federal do Ceará

Abstract

Zoological collections provide a morphological, genetic and historical database that can assist researchers in work in various fields. Research on taxonomy, systematics, genetics, ecology, public health, among others, becomes executable and facilitated by the presence of such a collection in an institution. Based on this, this work aimed to characterize the Collection of Mammals of the Departamento de Biologia, Centro de Ciências, Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC.M). The specimens were transferred from the Núcleo Regional de Ofiologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará (NUROF-UFC) to the o Laboratório de Evolução e Conservação de Vertebrados Marinhos (EvolVe). Firstly, the cleaning of the pieces and the retrieval of information about the cataloged specimens began. The Collection of Mammals of the Federal University of Ceará consists of 331 cataloged specimens (285 specimens in the collection and 46 not found). These specimens are preserved as follows: 184 pieces in dry and 103 in wet. As for the types of pieces, the collection consists of 95 complete individuals, 108 taxidermised skins, two paw pieces, 18 tail pieces, 28 complete skeletons, 64 skulls, two carapaces and four sets of thorns. Regarding the taxonomic composition, the collection consists of 47 species distributed in 46 genera of 22 Families, which belong to almost all mammalian orders of occurrence for Brazil (except for the order Sirenia). Most of the specimens come from the Serra de Maranguape and the Ubajara National Park in Ceará. Other specimens were collected in other localities of the Northeast.