Large donated microfossil collections
The myiad tiny chambers of Nummullites gizehensis, once occupied by the animals, are sometimes found to be filled with crude oil.
Since 1990, several large collections of microfossils have been donated to the Natural History Museum and kept as discrete collections.
The most commercially significant are:
- The Former Iraq Petroleum Company Collection (see Whittaker et al., 1998)
- The Former British Petroleum Microfossil Collection, which includes micropalaeontological material from petroleum explorations around the world.
Oil companies and other commercial consultants regularly refer to these collections.
Other large donations include:
- Hull University Collection of ostracods (see Hodgkinson, 1994)
- The Former Aberystwyth Micropalaeontological Collection
Using palaeontology collections
Toolbox
Useful references
Hogkinson RL (1995) The Hull University collection of Ostracoda in the Natural History Museum, London; sources of type and figured material. Micropalaeontology, 41(4): 381-382.
Whittaker JE, Jones RW and Banner FT (1998) Key Mesozoic Benthic Foraminifera of the Middle East. Natural History Museum: London, 236 pp.