Fossil taxonomy online

BGS Information Hub – data collections

Digital, image-bearing databases are a powerful tool in taxonomy, but are only now becoming more widely available. It is intended that this project will make the BGS fossil collections, and in some cases those of collaborating organisations, available to geologists and professional and amateur palaeontologists, as well as forming an important educational tool.

These online publications do not replace traditional hardcopy palaeontological publications, but supplement them by allowing easy access to illustrations of specimens and information about species. The descriptions of genera and species are brief and emphasise the key features that allow differentiation between taxa. They also give key information about the biostratigraphical usefulness of species and their ranges.

The Reduviasporonites gallery

The first collection to be released was part of a joint initiative with Geoscience Australia and is a gallery of species of Reduviasporonites, Wilson, 1962.

Carboniferous spores gallery

Taxonomy Online 2, Carboniferous spores from the Bernard Owens Collection, is now available.

Need more information?

For more information on the taxonomy online project, contact the project leader, Mark Woods.

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Horiostoma discors var. mariae. (SM A 10212 – Syntype.) Wenlock Epoch (Silurian Period) (427.4 – 433.4 Ma B.P.) See 3D fossils online. GB3D Type Fossils.

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