Unlocking the Entomological Collection of the Natural History Museum of Maputo, Mozambique

• DOI: 10.3897/bdj.9.e64461
• Publication Date: 2021-04-21T13:36:45Z
• Authors: Domingos Sandramo; Enrico Nicosia; Silvio Cianciullo; Bernardo Muatinte; Almeida Guissamulo
• Keywords: 0106 biological sciences; QH301-705.5; Natural history; Nursing; FOS: Health sciences; entomology; 01 natural sciences; i; Environmental science; Tourism; Natural heritage; FOS: Economics and business; Global biodiversity; dataset; insects; Biology (General); Environmental resource management; Biology; Nature and Landscape Conservation; Species Distribution Modeling and Climate Change Impacts; Ecology; Geography; digitisation; Ecological Modeling; Biodiversity; 15. Life on land; Data Paper (Biosciences); Safeguarding; Archaeology; FOS: Biological sciences; specimens; Environmental Science; Physical Sciences; Medicine; Species Detection; Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Monitoring; Biogeography and Conservation of Neotropical Freshwater Fishes

The collections of the Natural History Museum of Maputo have a crucial role in the safeguarding of Mozambique's biodiversity, representing an important repository of data and materials regarding the natural heritage of the country. In this paper, a dataset is described, based on the Museum’s Entomological Collection recording 409 species belonging to seven orders and 48 families. Each specimen’s available data, such as geographical coordinates and taxonomic information, have been digitised to build the dataset. The specimens included in the dataset were obtained between 1914–2018 by collectors and researchers from the Natural History Museum of Maputo (once known as “Museu Alváro de Castro”) in all the country’s provinces, with the exception of Cabo Delgado Province. This paper adds data to the Biodiversity Network of Mozambique and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, within the objectives of the SECOSUD II Project and the Biodiversity Information for Development Programme. The aforementioned insect dataset is available on the GBIF Engine data portal (https://doi.org/10.15468/j8ikhb). Data were also shared on the Mozambican national portal of biodiversity data BioNoMo (https://bionomo.openscidata.org), developed by SECOSUD II Project.