Scientific and educational potential of the malacological collection of the State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Abstract

The importance of the malacological collection of the State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Lviv for the history and further development of malacological research in Ukraine is considered. The scientific potential of stock malacological materials, accumulated in the museum since the second half of the 19th century and significantly supplemented during the last decades, was analyzed in temporal and geographical aspects, as well as taking into account the taxonomic diversity and intraspecific conchological variability of the molluscs of Ukraine, the presence of typical materials, etc. It was found that the main (scientific) part of the malacological collection well represents the present land and freshwater mollusc fauna of Ukraine and its western part. Not represented in the museum's malacological collection are still some species that are mainly locally distributed in Ukraine and often have small sizes, which further complicates their sampling. Among the more recent additions to the malacological collection, we can especially mention the samples related to the study of the land mollusc fauna of the steppe zone of Ukraine, which remained poorly studied until the end of the 20th and even the beginning of the 21st century, as well as to the shell color and banding polymorphism in the Eastern European populations of two introduced species, Cepaea nemoralis and C. hortensis. Among the auxiliary part of the malacological collection, a large block of materials that can be used for exhibition purposes is selected. They allow demonstrating a wide range of topics from the taxonomic and morphological diversity of molluscs of Ukraine and the world to conchological adaptations. It can be useful when studying corresponding sections of a school biology course, as well as for students of biological specialties, amateur naturalists, etc. Various forms of virtual exhibiting allow to shown the public also numerous materials of the main (scientific) part of the malacological collection, which became possible within the framework of the Educational online program “Molluscs”. This allows us to talk about the gradual transformation of the main part of the malacological collection from a classical scientific collection to a scientific and educational one with virtual access.