Skip to main content

Fabio Massimo Viglianisi

  • Biodiversity Journal, 15 (2): 187-192 - MONOGRAPH

    Giorgio Sabella & Fabio Massimo Viglianisi
    Design and preparation of a thematic showcase on alien species at the Museum of Zoology of the University of Catania (Italy)
    https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2024.15.2.187.192

    ABSTRACT
    As part of the Interreg FAST (Fight Alien Species Transborder) project, in which the Zoology Museum of the University of Catania (Italy) is involved, in the Museum main room a thematic exhibition relating to alien species, also equipped with interactive supports, has been planned. This action is part of the communication strategy of the aforementioned project, providing for the promotion of Citizen Science initiatives that bring all citizens closer to this problem, increasing their awareness and participation. Some of the most representative and iconic animals linked to this issue will be exhibited within this space. Visitors will be able to observe both vertebrates such as the Nutria (Myocastor coypus Molina, 1782) or the American pond turtle (Trachemys scripta Thunberg in Schoepff, 1792), and invertebrates such as the Red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier, 1790) or the Louisiana red crayfish (Procambarus clarkii Girard, 1852). Also, a large poster illustrating all the species of alien birds in Europe will complete the exhibition, which will also be accompanied by information panels in Italian and English regarding not only the animals on display but also the aims and objectives of the FAST project. Adjacent to the exhibition space an 80-inch touch screen monitor will be installed with a software, also for children, for the recognition of native and alien species, accompanied by information collected in a database on alien invasive species present in Sicily and in Malta.

  • Biodiversity Journal, 15 (2): 179-185 - MONOGRAPH

    Giorgio Sabella & Fabio Massimo Viglianisi
    The new layout of the Museum of Zoology of the University of Catania (Italy) one year after its opening
    https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2024.15.2.179.185

    ABSTRACT
    On 9 July 2021 the Museum of Zoology of the University of Catania (Italy), the oldest Sicilian zoological museum whose foundation dates back to 1853 by Prof. Andrea Aradas, reopened to the public with a new layout, which involved the elimination of all the showcases in which the specimens were displayed. The new project instead envisaged that all the vertebrate specimens present in the main room, around 170, are arranged on open platforms and grouped according to systematic or biogeographical criteria. An emotional museum was thus created in which the elimination of the showcases and the possibility to walk among the exhibits without barriers or limitations increase the emotional and emphatic involvement of the visitor, helping the transmission of information on biodiversity and the relationship between man and nature.