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.
Scanning electron micrograph of the Permo-Triassic microfossil Reduviasporonites chalastus. Image: (Foster) Elsik 1999.
Carboniferous spore Convolutispora major. Image: (Kedo) Turnau, 1978.
Top left: Reinschospora speciosa ((Loose) Schopf, Wilson & Bentall, 1944).
Bottom left: Reduviasporonites catenulatus (Wilson, 1962).
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.
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GB3D type fossils online
You can now search for 3D digital models and photographs of UK fossil type specimens from collections across the country.