{"key":"38f40fff-0afd-4fc2-9ad2-7982d0e9cff7","installationKey":"96dec937-f8d1-4d18-a8a1-1e9f4ca1aabd","publishingOrganizationKey":"575c52b0-a742-11db-a6ff-b8a03c50a862","doi":"10.15468/a4hjtm","external":false,"numConstituents":0,"type":"OCCURRENCE","subtype":"SPECIMEN","shortName":"rmca_mollusca","title":"Mollusca collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa","description":"\n            The Mollusc collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) is one of the largest and most significant reference collections for tropical Africa. It comprises 45,523 records representing more than 475,230 physical specimens, including 69,141 type specimens, with more than 200 holotypes or equivalent primary types. The collection is largely dominated by Gastropoda, which account for more than 75% of the material. Bivalvia represent about 12% of the collection, while Cephalopoda, Polyplacophora, and Scaphopoda are present in smaller but scientifically valuable proportions. Together, these groups provide a broad and well-balanced representation of molluscan diversity. In addition to its taxonomic importance, the RMCA Mollusc collection has a strong applied research dimension. It includes an important DNA collection of Bulinus snails, which are key intermediate hosts of schistosome parasites. This resource directly supports research in molecular epidemiology of tropical diseases, particularly schistosomiasis, where freshwater snails play a central role in parasite transmission. These studies, led notably by Tine Huyse and collaborators, highlight the strategic importance of the collection at the interface between biodiversity research, systematics, and public health.\n        ","language":"eng","homepage":"https://darwinweb.africamuseum.be/","citation":{"text":"Van den Spiegel D, Henrard A, Musschoot T, Theeten F (2026). Mollusca collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Royal Museum for Central Africa, Belgium. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/a4hjtm accessed via GBIF.org on 2026-10-13.","citationProvidedBySource":false},"contactsCitation":[{"key":6951106,"abbreviatedName":"Van den Spiegel D","firstName":"Didier","lastName":"Van den Spiegel","roles":["ORIGINATOR"],"userId":[]},{"key":6951107,"abbreviatedName":"Henrard A","firstName":"Arnaud","lastName":"Henrard","roles":["ORIGINATOR"],"userId":[]},{"key":6951108,"abbreviatedName":"Musschoot T","firstName":"Tobias","lastName":"Musschoot","roles":["METADATA_AUTHOR"],"userId":["https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2015-6779"]},{"key":6951109,"abbreviatedName":"Theeten F","firstName":"Franck","lastName":"Theeten","roles":["METADATA_AUTHOR"],"userId":[]}],"lockedForAutoUpdate":false,"createdBy":"575c52b0-a742-11db-a6ff-b8a03c50a862","modifiedBy":"crawler.gbif.org","created":"2026-03-19T13:35:06.102+00:00","modified":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.518+00:00","contacts":[{"key":6951106,"type":"ORIGINATOR","primary":true,"userId":[],"firstName":"Didier","lastName":"Van den Spiegel","position":["Head of biological collection department"],"email":["didier.van.den.spiegel@africamuseum.be"],"phone":["+32 2 769 54 11"],"homepage":[],"organization":"Royal Museum for Central Africa","address":["Leuvensesteenweg"],"city":"Tervuren","country":"BE","postalCode":"3080","createdBy":"crawler.gbif.org","modifiedBy":"crawler.gbif.org","created":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.494+00:00","modified":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.494+00:00"},{"key":6951107,"type":"ORIGINATOR","primary":false,"userId":[],"firstName":"Arnaud","lastName":"Henrard","position":["Arachnologist"],"email":["arnaud.henrard@africamuseum.be"],"phone":["32 2 769 57 06"],"homepage":[],"organization":"Royal Museum for Central Africa","address":["Leuvensesteenweg, 13"],"city":"Tervuren","country":"BE","postalCode":"3080","createdBy":"crawler.gbif.org","modifiedBy":"crawler.gbif.org","created":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.497+00:00","modified":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.497+00:00"},{"key":6951108,"type":"METADATA_AUTHOR","primary":true,"userId":["https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2015-6779"],"firstName":"Tobias","lastName":"Musschoot","position":["Data officer"],"email":["tmusschoot@naturalsciences.be"],"phone":[],"homepage":[],"organization":"Belgian Biodiversity Platform / Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences","address":["Vautierstraat, 29"],"city":"Brussels","country":"BE","postalCode":"1000","createdBy":"crawler.gbif.org","modifiedBy":"crawler.gbif.org","created":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.498+00:00","modified":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.498+00:00"},{"key":6951109,"type":"METADATA_AUTHOR","primary":false,"userId":[],"firstName":"Franck","lastName":"Theeten","position":[],"email":["franck.theeten@africamuseum.be"],"phone":[],"homepage":[],"organization":"Royal Museum for Central Africa","address":["Leuvensesteenweg, 13"],"city":"Tervuren","country":"BE","postalCode":"3080","createdBy":"crawler.gbif.org","modifiedBy":"crawler.gbif.org","created":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.500+00:00","modified":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.500+00:00"},{"key":6951110,"type":"ADMINISTRATIVE_POINT_OF_CONTACT","primary":true,"userId":[],"firstName":"Didier","lastName":"Van den Spiegel","position":["Head of biological collection department"],"email":["didier.van.den.spiegel@africamuseum.be"],"phone":["+32 2 769 54 11"],"homepage":[],"organization":"Royal Museum for Central Africa","address":["Leuvensesteenweg"],"city":"Tervuren","country":"BE","postalCode":"3080","createdBy":"crawler.gbif.org","modifiedBy":"crawler.gbif.org","created":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.500+00:00","modified":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.500+00:00"},{"key":6951111,"type":"ADMINISTRATIVE_POINT_OF_CONTACT","primary":false,"userId":[],"firstName":"Arnaud","lastName":"Henrard","position":["Arachnologist"],"email":["arnaud.henrard@africamuseum.be"],"phone":["32 2 769 57 06"],"homepage":[],"organization":"Royal Museum for Central Africa","address":["Leuvensesteenweg"],"city":"Tervuren","country":"BE","postalCode":"3080","createdBy":"crawler.gbif.org","modifiedBy":"crawler.gbif.org","created":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.501+00:00","modified":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.501+00:00"}],"endpoints":[{"key":1255057,"type":"DWC_ARCHIVE","url":"https://biocase.africamuseum.be/ipt_rmca/archive.do?r=rmca_mollusca","createdBy":"575c52b0-a742-11db-a6ff-b8a03c50a862","modifiedBy":"575c52b0-a742-11db-a6ff-b8a03c50a862","created":"2026-03-19T13:35:06.291+00:00","modified":"2026-03-19T13:35:06.291+00:00","machineTags":[]},{"key":1255056,"type":"EML","url":"https://biocase.africamuseum.be/ipt_rmca/eml.do?r=rmca_mollusca","createdBy":"575c52b0-a742-11db-a6ff-b8a03c50a862","modifiedBy":"575c52b0-a742-11db-a6ff-b8a03c50a862","created":"2026-03-19T13:35:06.255+00:00","modified":"2026-03-19T13:35:06.255+00:00","machineTags":[]}],"machineTags":[{"key":33142423,"namespace":"crawler.gbif.org","name":"crawl_attempt","value":"25","createdBy":"crawler.gbif.org","created":"2026-10-12T02:02:00.606+00:00"}],"tags":[],"identifiers":[{"key":464726,"type":"URL","identifier":"https://biocase.africamuseum.be/ipt_rmca/resource?r=rmca_mollusca","createdBy":"crawler.gbif.org","created":"2026-03-19T13:36:07.503+00:00","primary":false}],"comments":[],"bibliographicCitations":[],"curatorialUnits":[],"taxonomicCoverages":[{"coverages":[{"scientificName":"Mollusca","rank":{"verbatim":"phylum","interpreted":"PHYLUM"}}]}],"geographicCoverages":[{"description":"Mainly Africa.","boundingBox":{"minLatitude":-90.0,"maxLatitude":90.0,"minLongitude":-180.0,"maxLongitude":180.0,"globalCoverage":true}}],"temporalCoverages":[{"@type":"verbatim","period":"Since 1634","type":"FORMATION_PERIOD"}],"keywordCollections":[{"thesaurus":"GBIF Dataset Type Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_type_2015-07-10.xml","keywords":["Occurrence"]},{"thesaurus":"GBIF Dataset Subtype Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_subtype.xml","keywords":["Specimen"]},{"thesaurus":"N/A","keywords":["DaRWIN","molluscs","Mollusca","natural history collection","RMCA"]}],"project":{"title":"Mapping of the Mollusca collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa","contacts":[{"type":"CURATOR","primary":false,"userId":[],"firstName":"Didier","lastName":"Van den Spiegel","position":[],"email":[],"phone":[],"homepage":[],"address":[]},{"type":"CURATOR","primary":false,"userId":[],"firstName":"Arnaud","lastName":"Henrard","position":[],"email":[],"phone":[],"homepage":[],"address":[]}],"awards":[],"relatedProjects":[]},"countryCoverage":[],"collections":[],"dataDescriptions":[],"dataLanguage":"eng","pubDate":"2026-03-19T00:00:00.000+00:00","maintenanceUpdateFrequency":"UNKNOWN","maintenanceDescription":"","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","dwca":{"coreType":"http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Occurrence","extensions":[],"modified":"2026-10-12T02:02:01.744+00:00"},"approximateCounts":{"occurrenceCount":38723}}