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.

Foraminifera collections

Foraminifera are the largest of our micropalaeontological collections, and the most visited. Learn more about these collections.
Palynology

Organic microfossils include Lower Palaeozoic palynomorphs and Cretaceous dinoflagellate cysts.
Nannofossil collections

Our nannofossil collections are particularly important for ocean acidification studies. Discover more.
Ostracod collections

The Museum has enormous collections of ostracods, both fossil and non-fossil specimens.
Radiolarian collection

Learn more about our radiolarian collection, which contains historically important material collected by Ernst Haeckel.
Conodont collection

Discover the range of our conodont holdings and how the collections were built.