Abstract
Abstract. This paper describes four new Cenozoic, deep-water benthic foraminifera from the reference collections at the Natural History Museum in London. The focus is on selected calcareous taxa that are of stratigraphical and/or palaeoecological significance for academic and industrial-related activities. Alabamina heyae (urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1E8A66E9-1F4C-4B61-BA97-6E0ECCD0173E), Nonion cepa (urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9F36350A-1E49-4D69-B2CC-C83F343E2952), Uvigerina kingi (urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C36C89C2-2E65-4FF6-9368-C169B4591995) and Lenticulina stewarti (urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:485AE871-CECA-44E8-ABD1-BAE2961FFD59) are described with new illustrations. Their biostratigraphic and palaeoecological significance is briefly discussed.
Highlights
Combined with an industrial collection containing material from continuous deposits that is out of reach for the general scientist, the potential for discovery is great. The former British Petroleum micropalaeontology collection was acquired by the Natural History Museum in London in 1992, when the collection was deemed surplus to requirements due to changes in the business practices at British Petroleum
In this study the authors describe specimens from the regional reference collections that were collated by British Petroleum palaeontologists as they worked on particular regions and other specific projects
This study presents four new benthic foraminiferal taxa from the Cenozoic that are formally described from the former British Petroleum micropalaeontology collection
Summary
Museum collections often contain a wealth of unstudied material in need of attention. Combined with an industrial collection containing material from continuous deposits that is out of reach for the general scientist, the potential for discovery is great The former British Petroleum micropalaeontology collection was acquired by the Natural History Museum in London in 1992, when the collection was deemed surplus to requirements due to changes in the business practices at British Petroleum. Following a recent reclassification of over 3000 slides and ∼ 33 000 specimens that form the NW European reference collection, a number of taxa were found in need of immediate formal classification, whilst others were identified that were in need of closer examination before formal descriptions are assigned. These are significant due to their biostratigraphical and potentially palaeoenvironmental importance, both of which will be discussed
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