Discovery of an historical collection of African Arachnids hosted in the Civic Museum of Zoology of Rome

This work aims to make known to the scientific community the discovery of an historical collection of African Arachnids hosted in the Civic Museum of Zoology of Rome. This collection was put together between 1937 and 1938, during an ichthyologic expedition in East Africa conducted by Prof. Gustavo Brunelli. The original collection consisted of 187 species, including 70 new ones, described by Lodovico di Caporiacco (1901-1951). Most of the collections were made at Lake Regina Margherita, in a very unique habitats represented by the "floating islands" of marsh grasses. A first reorganization carried out shows that the collection is composed about 700 specimens preserved in ethanol, many of which are type specimens.