Coleção entomológica do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz: Resgate de acervo científico-histórico disperso pelo Massacre de Manguinhos

Abstract

One of the oldest, most varied and widest-ranging entomology collections in Latin America, containing a significant portion of Brazil's biodiversity, was severely damaged during an episode which came to be known as the Manguinhos Massacre, when ten eminent researchers had their political rights suspended. This note tells of how a particular episode in the tragedy caused part of this collection to be broken up, and how 8,554 valuable specimens of the order Diptera, from 35 families, including 99 type specimens, have been reintroduced to Instituto Oswaldo Cruz's Entomology Collection in their original positions in the steel cabinets 35 years on. This reintroduction represents the first effort to restore this collection both historically and scientifically since Brazil's military dictatorship.