Nannofossil collection

Coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi, found in all oceans — Coccolithophore *Emiliania huxleyi*, found in all oceans

The Museum's nannofossil collection is particularly important for ocean acidification studies. It contains both fossil and modern coccolithophores.

Strengths

The nannofossil collections are primarily image catalogues of key species. The catalogues include tens of thousands of scanning electron microscope images featuring a mixture of:

taxa collected during cruise studies to evaluate the biology of living coccoliths
fossil material.

Reference collection

We also hold a microfossil reference collection of nannofossils for the Ocean Drilling Programme, a key resource for coccolithophore research.

This contains approximately 5,000 slides covering the range of sediments recovered by the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and Ocean Drilling Project (ODP).

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The nannofossil collection is being digitised

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Senior Curator

Dr Stephen Stukins

Principal Curator

Dr Giles Miller

Major collections

Former British Petroleum micropalaeontology collection

Contains the microfossil well-run samples from British Petroleum's exploration activities since the 1950s, including slides and residues from over 3,800 well and outcrop localities worldwide.

The collection includes:

micropalaeontological slides
palynological slides (c. 78,000)
nannofossil slides
faunal slides
loose specimens
residues
the former British Petroleum microfossil reference collection (foraminifera and ostracoda)

Search the former British Petroleum microfossil database

Reference collection

We also hold a reference collection of nannofossils, a key resource for coccolithophore research that we maintain on behalf of the Ocean Drilling Programme. It contains approximately 5,000 slides covering the range of sediments recovered by the Deep Sea Drilling Project and Ocean Drilling Project.

Reticulofenestra sessilis (yellow-green) forms unique symbiotic assocations with the diatom Thalassiosira (pink). This specimen is from the Gulf of Mexico.
A Syracosphaera anthos coccosphere from the Western Mediterranean. False coloured to show the shell is formed of inner and outer layers of coccoliths with very different structure.
Holococcolith, Periphyllophora mirabilis. The hole surrounded by coccoliths (green) is the flagellar opening. This specimen is from the Alboran Sea, western Mediterranean.