MNA (Section of Genoa) and NIWA Invertebrate Collection - Ross Sea Tanaidacea

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.