A Collection of Eocene and Oligocene Fossils

compiled by Alan Morton

Getting the most from this Website

This Website displays more than 3,000 images of fossils arranged on 20 separate 'pages'.
It is best viewed on a Desktop, Laptop or Tablet Computer with your Browser window set at maximum size.
The individual pages are accessed from THE COLLECTION Page via the table of 20 images which act as links to the 20 individual pages displaying fossils. For example, to access the Headon Beds Gastropods page, click on the gastropod image in the second row of the table.
The rows on THE COLLECTION Page are arranged in stratigraphical order, youngest at the top.
The terminology used for the strata is the old system of Beds. This is for simplicity, and also to tie in with the older literature which still remains important for the identification of fossils. The correlation of these Beds with the modern system of Group, Formation and Member is given on the Stratigraphy Page of the website.
Each individual 'page' for a particular stratum and taxonomic group consists of a 4-column table of images of fossils with the species name (where known) and authority underneath. Also given is a size in millimetres which should be interpreted as the size of the largest dimension of the displayed fossil.
The species names in the 4-column tables are not italicised. This is for clarity of the text because of the small font size used.
Some of the more frequently-occurring species are denoted by a darker background to the species name. Note, however, that some of the 'frequently-occurring' species may be restricted to a limited range of strata rather than being ubiquitous.
The number of images displayed on each individual page varies from just a few dozen to over 500. Pages with a large number of images may take a few minutes to download, but on a return visit the download will be faster due to the caching of images by your browser software.
Moving the mouse cursor over a fossil image on the individual pages will bring up a text box giving information about the Bed and Locality where the fossil was found.
Moving the mouse cursor over the species name below a fossil image on the individual pages will bring up a text box giving information about its higher taxon. Where known, this is the Family. Where not known, it is a taxon above Family level.
To get more information about a particular fossil on one of the individual pages, click on the image. This results in the fossil being displayed in a separate window as two images. (But see the note about JavaScript in the Settings section below.) The image on the left is the image displayed at full resolution with an indication of approximate magnification. The image on the right is the image displayed at approximately the actual size of the fossil. To optimize the accuracy of fossil size representation, specify the size of your monitor screen at the bottom of this page.
Additional information which may be given consists of:
- Some commonly-used synonyms (enclosed within square brackets). Synonyms are other names that have been applied to the same species, but not necessarily correctly.
- Additional notes, for example an English description of the fossil.
- The name of the collector.
- The name of the determiner (if not Alan Morton).
- The locality from which the fossil was collected. This information is not given in all cases, or is only given vaguely to protect the identity of small and vulnerable sites.
To compare two or more species, multiple windows can be opened as described above. These windows can then be moved and re-sized using standard Windows operations to compare species side-by-side.

The format of species names is:
Genus species Authority Date
for example:
Pseudodostia traceyi Symonds 2009
This indicates that this species name was assigned and described by Symonds in a scientific paper published in 2009.

Abbreviations used:

?	Denotes doubt and is placed before the part of the name in doubt, e.g. ?Bithynia conica denotes doubt about the genus rather than the species. Nipteraxis ?goossensi denotes doubt about the species rather than the genus. ?Ogcocephalus ?glyptosus denotes doubt about the species and the genus.
"..." '...'	Quotes denote a genus used in the broadest sense and is possibly, strictly speaking, incorrect, but a more appropriate genus is not obvious, e.g. "Cancellaria" silvestris
(...)	In a species name, brackets denote a subgenus, e.g. Clithon (Pictoneritina) cranmorensis In an authority, brackets denote that the named author originally assigned the species name, but the species has since been assigned to a different genus, e.g. Viviparus angulosus (J. Sowerby 1817) [= Phasianella angulosa J. Sowerby 1817]
[...]	Square brackets denote a synonym. Synonyms are other names that have been applied to the same species.
sp.	species : an undetermined (unidentified) or unknown species. Some of these will be new, undescribed species.
sp. indet.	species indeterminata : a species that has not or cannot be determined (identified).
sp. nov.	species nova : a new, undescribed species.
ssp.	subspecies : a subdivision of a species.
var.	varietas : variety; a subdivision of a species.
gr.	group : in the group of, e.g. Serratocerithium gr.tuberculosum denotes that the specimen is in the tuberculosum species group of the genus Serratocerithium.
cf.	conferre : compare with, e.g. Batillaria cf.bouei suggests that the specimen is very similar to that species but is perhaps not identical.
MS	Manuscript : a name proposed in an unpublished manuscript for a species or genus and therefore not described and published as a valid name.
aff.	affinis : having affinity with, e.g. Clavilithes aff.conjunctus denotes that the specimen is closely related to that species, but is not the same and may be a new, undescribed species.
leg.	legit : collected by.
coll.	collected : collected by.
Colln.	Collection : in the Collection of.
det.	determined : determined (identified) by (if not Alan Morton).
conf.	confirmed : confirmed by (following initial determination by Alan Morton).

Copyright

Settings

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