Brief background:
In 1909, two young explorers, Herbert Lang (1879-1957) and James P. Chapin (1889-1964), were sent by the American Museum of Natural History on a pioneering expedition into the largely unexplored jungles of the Belgian Congo of Africa to discover some of the most fabulous flora and fauna unknown to the western world. This expedition was planned to last for two years, but it was so successful that it lasted for six. Over those six years, thousands of plant and animal specimens were collected, most of which were new to science. Today, nearly a century later, the collections are considered highly vaulable.
In 2002, thanks to a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the AMNH Library launched a digital website of the Belgian Congo Expedition:
http://diglib1.amnh.org/
Of the more than 120,000 zoological specimens collected, approximately 8,000 of these were mollusks. About 350 of these mollusks were new species or forms, most of which were deposited at AMNH, and later described by Henry A. Pilsbry and Joseph Bequaert in two publications. Both publications can now be accessed on-line, thanks to the digitization efforts by the AMNH Library:
Pilsbry, Henry. A Review of the Land Mollusks of the Begian Congo, chiefly based on the collections of the American Museum Congo Expedition, 1909-1915. AMNH Bulletin Vol. XL, art. 1, 1919.
http://diglib1.amnh.org/bulletins/congo/BUL40a1.pdf
Pilsbry, Henry A. and J. Bequaert. The Aquatic Mollusks of the Belgian Congo, with a geographical and ecological account of Congo malacology. AMNH Bulletin Vol. LIII, art. 2, 1927.
http://diglib1.amnh.org/bulletins/congo/BUL53a2.html
AMNH Malacology's present work on the types from the Belgian Congo Expedition include recuration and digitization of all type specimens, as well as all their related materials: original catalogue cards, labels, and other objects associated with them.
Future plans for AMNH Malacology are to have some of the mollusks collected during the Belgian Congo Expedition included on the AMNH Library's digital website. Until then, some Mollusca "galleries" can be seen by clicking on the species names below:
AMNH 1907 Achatina schweinfurthi rhodacme Pilsbry, 1919
AMNH 2040 Bukobia cockerelli Pilsbry, 1919
AMNH 72088 Pila congoensis Pilsbry & Bequaert, 1927
AMNH 72094 Caelatura stanleyvillensis Pilsbry & Bequaert, 1927
AMNH 2167 Halolimnohelix hirsuta Pilsbry, 1919
AMNH 2105 Varicostele bequaertiana Pilsbry, 1919
AMNH 72081 Potadoma medjeorum Pilsbry & Bequaert, 1927
AMNH 2149 Gulella socialis Pilsbry, 1919
AMNH 2095 Pseudoglessula famelica Pilsbry, 1919
AMNH 2106 Marconia lata ruwenzoriensis Pilsbry, 1919
AMNH 2132 Ptychotrema aequitoriale Pilsbry, 1919
Pages created by Marla L. Coppolino. Images of type specimens taken by Jason Larimer using a Microptics imaging system.
