Micropalaeontology collections
The Museum's Micropalaeontology collection is one of the largest in the world housing extensive reference collections of foraminifera, ostracods, palynomorphs, nannofossils, conodonts and radiolarians.
The collections contain
- type and figured material from well over 2,000 scientific publications
- an estimated 650,000 slides, residue bottles and samples
- millions of individual specimens
As well as containing commercially significant data, these collections are regularly accessed as part of ocean acidification and climate change studies.
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Foraminifera collections
Foraminifera are the largest of our microfossil collections, and the most visited. Find out more.
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Palynology collections
The Museum's spore and pollen microfossil collections include the John Williams Index of Palaeopalynology.
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Nannofossil collections
Explore our nannofossil collections, particularly important for ocean acidification studies.
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Ostracod collections
The Museum has enormous collections of ostracods, both fossil and non-fossil specimens.
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Radiolarian collection
Learn more about our radiolarian collection, which contains historically important material collected by Ernst Haeckel.
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Conodont collection
Discover the range of our conodont holdings and how the collections were built.
Micropalaeontology research
Find out more
Learn about the microfossil organisms we research, our staff and the science of micropalaeontology.
Research visitor facilities
In addition to the micropalaeontology collections themselves,
- a specialist library
- digital imaging facilities
are available to scientific visitors.