Distribution records of sea cucumbers (Echinodermata, Holothuroidea) based on the collection stored at the Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA, section of Genoa) is an occurrence type dataset published by Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA). The dataset comprises a total of 328 distributional records, each one corresponding to a voucher specimen stored at the Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA) – Genoa section. These records originate from the sampling activities performed in the context of eleven different research projects that took place during 11 scientific polar expeditions conducted in the Ross Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula. In total, 89 different sampling events were conducted using a variety of sampling instruments and methodologies.

This new dataset presents occurrence data for Porifera collected in the Ross Sea, mainly in the Terra Nova Bay area, and curated at the Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA, section of Genoa). Specimens were collected in 331 different sampling stations at depths ranging from 17 to 1100 meters in the framework of 17 different Italian Antarctic expeditions funded by the Italian National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA). This dataset focuses on all classes (Calcarea, Demospongiae, Hexactinellida and Homoscleromorpha) of the Phylum Porifera (Kingdom Animalia), and includes a total of 807 specimens belonging to 144 morphospecies (with 95 taxa classified at species level and 49 at genus level), are included in the dataset and representing 12 orders and 30 families.

Information regarding the molluscs in this dataset is based on the Rauschert dredge samples collected during the Latitudinal Gradient Program (LGP) on board the R/V “Italica” in the Ross Sea (Antarctica) in the austral summer 2004, in the framework of the 19th PNRA Antarctic expedition. The study area was the continental shelf along the latitudinal transect comprised between Cape Adare (~71°S) and Terra Nova Bay (~75°S). On the whole,eighteen stations, comprised between 84 and 515m of depth, were sampled The present dataset focus on six molluscs classes (Mollusca: Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Monoplacophora, Aplacophora, Polyplacophora and Scaphopoda). In total 8,359 specimens have been collected belonging to 161 species and corresponding to 505 species distributional records. Of these, in order of abundance, 5,965 specimens were Gastropoda (accounting for 113 species), 1,323 were Bivalvia (accounting for 36 species), 949 were Aplacophora (accounting for 7 species), 74 specimens were Scaphopoda (3 species), 38 were Monoplacophora (1 species) and, finally, 10 specimens were Polyplacophora (1 species). This data set represent the first large-scale survey of benthic micromolluscs for the area and provides important information about the distribution of several species which have been seldom or never recorded before in the Ross Sea.

This dataset illustrates the distributional data of bryozoan species, belonging to the Classes of Stenolaemata and Gymnolaemata, collected in the Ross Sea and the Magellan Strait. The collection is curated at the Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA, section of Genoa) and it includes a total of 311 specimens corresponding to 282 MNA vouchers and belonging to 127 morphospecies. Out of these, 100 were classified to species level and 27 to genus level, representing 3 orders and 34 families. The distributional data of Bryozoa came from different research expeditions, conducted between 1988 and 2014, and include 75 sampling stations, located between 18 and 711 metres of depth.