Micropalaeontology I

The Micropalaeontological Collections

The largest collection is of fossil and Recent Ostracoda, with material representing the evolution of the group from the Palaeozoic to the present day, from all over the world and from both marine and non-marine environments. The Ostracod Collection is particularly rich in material from the Devonian (BECKER Collection) and the post-Palaeozoic (Triebel, Malz, Krömmelbein, Jellinek and other collections). Of more than 21,000 catalogued specimens about 1,000 are holotypes, neotypes and lectotypes.

The Foraminifera Collection is based on material from classic studies of foraminifera from the German Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous that were made in the 1930’s using samples from the then new Mittelland-Kanal and core samples from oil exploration boreholes. More recently material has been obtained from tunnels for the Frankfurt U-Bahn system. The collection is particularly rich in fossil material from Europe. Important recent additions are the Franz and Gustava Kahler collection of Fusulinina (large Foraminifera, Upper Palaeozoic) and in 2005 the extensive personal collection of Dr Helmut Bartenstein.

The Otolith Collection is based on the collection of Prof. Dr. W. Weiler. After his death the Senckenberg Museum acquired his collection, including specialist literature. Increasing interest in this group of microfossils was justified by the realization that otoliths were excellent indicators of stratigraphic age, particularly in the Tertiary. Today the collection contains more than 10,000 specimens including more than 250 type-specimens, and is particularly rich in Tertiary and Recent material.