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.

Arkoses are rare rocks sampled during the Italian Antarctic Expeditions since 1989 and are now preserved at the repository of the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide. They come from Victoria Land and testify the existence of the supercontinent Gondwana. They have been classified at the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide and studied by researchers for their petrography, provenance and fossiliferous content.

Carbonaceous chondrites - CM are meteorites collected during the Italian Antarctic Expeditions since 2015 in Victoria Land and are now preserved at the repository of the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide.

We describe the diversity of marine copepods of Terra Nova Bay (TNB) sampled by 25 μm filters installed in the desalination unit (DU) of the Italian research station "Mario Zucchelli". The opening of the intake pipe of the DU is positioned at a depth of 4 meters and allowed a total of 2,116 specimens to be sampled and recognized. In addition, new occurrence records of copepod genera and species are reported in the same zone. We provide an overview of the marine copepods diversity reported for TNB. The total 2,116 individuals correspond to 14 genera and 15 species and are represented by 167 occurrence records in this dataset. Around 52% of the total number of species are new records for the TNB area are reported in this dataset.

Amphibolites were taken during the Italian Antarctic Expeditions since 1985 and now are preserved at the repository of the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide. They come from different regions of Antarctica where the geological evolution took place at different times and during different orogenic events. Many of them have been classified at the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide and have been the object of petrological, geochemical, geochronological and geomagnetic researches.

Basalts are rocks sampled during the Italian Antarctic Expeditions since 1985 and are now preserved at the repository of the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide. They come from different regions and formed at different times under different igneous events. They have been classified at the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide and studied by researchers for petrological, geochemical and geochronological aims.

Arenites are rocks sampled during the Italian Antarctic Expeditions since 1988 and are now preserved at the repository of the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide. They come from different regions and testify the existence of the supercontinent Gondwana. They have been classified at the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide and studied by researchers for their petrography, provenance and fossiliferous content.

Alkali feldspar granites are rare rocks sampled during the Italian Antarctic Expeditions since 1987 and are now preserved at the repository of the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide. They come from Victoria Land and they formed at different times during two different orogenic events. They have been classified at the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide.

This dataset gathers distributional data on planktonic copepods (Crustacea, Copepoda) collected in the framework of the III, V and X Expeditions of the Italian National Antarctic Program (PNRA) held in the western Ross Sea from 1987 to 1995. Sampling was conducted with BIONESS and WP2 net in 94 different sampling stations, mainly distributed in the Terra Nova Bay area, at the depth of 0-1000 meters. In terms of spatial coverage, this dataset covers 6027 distributional records that are also reported in terms of original abundance data (ind/m3) to allow a possible modelization of species distributions thanks to the availability of environmental variables that were collected together with the biological samples. The total of distributional records here reported has two different origins: 5306 are represented by bibliographic records obtained by digitizing the original data reports, whereas 721 correspond to physical museum vouchers, now curated by the Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA, Section of Genoa). This group of museum samples comprises 8225 individual specimens, that were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. They belong to 4 orders, 25 families, 52 genera and 82 species, out of which 17 could be only determined at the genus level

Alkali feldspar syenites are rare rocks sampled during the Italian Antarctic Expeditions since 1988 and are now preserved at the repository of the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide. They come from Victoria Land and formed during two different magmatic events. They have been classified at the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide and studied by researchers for petrological, geochemical, geochronological and tectonic aims.