Giovanni Canestrini's catalogue of the marine malacological collection at the Museo di Zoologia, Padua

The malacological collection catalogued by Giovanni Canestrini at the end of the nineteenth century is an important historical collection, including thousands of marine shells belonging to nearly 800 species that were collected from different oceans and seas of the world. The research on and conservation of this collection – and more importantly the data associated with the specimens – have helped us to compare the present malacological fauna of the seas surrounding Italy with that of the past. This preliminary study paves the way to new ecological and population studies on a great number of species.