Naturalistic Museum in Castelbuono
The Naturalistic Museum Francesco Minà Palumbo in Castelbuono presents various collections that include finds relating to flora, fauna, geology, prehistory, industrial archeology by the naturalist Francesco Minà Palumbo and various collections donated by other naturalists.
Inside the museum there are several sections: a herbarium which consists of a historical part and a modern one, the historical part created by Minà Palumbo between 1834 and 1874 includes about 7000 exsiccata belonging to 1340 taxa; the paleontological collection which includes about 80 samples of madreporic limestone of the Madonie, 20 samples of fucoid marl, some finds of vertebrate fossils referable to Elephas sp. and Hippopotamus sp., about 500 fossil remains of corals, gastropods such as Cassidaria minae, Cassidaria virgae and marine bivalves collected throughout the territory; the malacological collection includes a section of Mediterranean marine shells, one of fossil marine shells and one of terrestrial and freshwater shells; the entomological collection includes about 3500 specimens, among the specimens present the cetonide Osmoderma cristina or the cerambicide Aromia moschata stand out.
