CARLOS RUSCONI, A PIONEER IN PALEONTOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AND HERITAGE PROTECTION IN MENDOZA PROVINCE, ARGENTINA

The naturalist Carlos Rusconi firstly became in contact with important paleontologists such as Carlos Ameghino and Lucas Kraglievich in the Museum of Buenos Aires. Together with Lorenzo Parodi and Alfredo Castellanos, he formed an incipient group of vertebrate paleontologists. After the dispersion of this group at the end of 1930, Rusconi began to work at the Jardín Zoológico of Buenos Aires. Few years later, he was the Director of the provincial museum of Mendoza city, where he worked for 30 years. During this period, the Museo de Historia Natural of Mendoza experienced a great development, not only as an educational but also as a research institution. Rusconi recovered a significant paleontological collection mainly from Mendoza and close areas in the Cuyo Region. He reorganized the museum in different departments and started new inventory books. He published numerous articles on paleontology, among which those on Paleozoic trilobites and graptolites, Jurassic marine reptiles, and Triassic amphibians and fishes are greatly relevant. He defined a large number of new taxa, which are reflected in the numerous type materials stored at the museum. Rusconi worried about the paleontological heritage and even published a draft bill promoting a law to protect paleontological and archeological sites in Mendoza Province. The lack of provincial support to adequately maintain the museum and its collections led Rusconi to resign as Director in 1967. Despite his controversial personality and scientific isolation, Rusconi’s legacy in paleontology cannot be denied or ignored, especially when dealing with the paleontological record of Mendoza.