About "The Fossil Fish Collection at the Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie"

The Collection

The Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie (Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology, BSPG) has with currently about 9,800 specimens one of the most important collections of fossil fishes in Europe. Of international importance are mainly type specimens and originals to published standard works of Louis Agassiz, Andreas Wagner, Georg Graf zu Münster, Otto-Maria Reis, Karl Alfred von Zittel, among others, mostly derived from the Mesozoic of southern Germany (Alpine and Germanic Triassic, Jurassic, and especially the Upper Jurassic lithographic limestone or Solnhofener Plattenkalke from the Franconian Alb, Bavaria). These have been described partially in monographic treatises since the 19th Century. With 4,000 fishes the ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) mostly from the Solnhofen area are also the most numerous specimens within the collection. These stocks are the subject of several ongoing investigations on the taxonomy and systematics of the bony fishes. They are particular evidence for the origin and phylogeny of the early modern bony fishes (Teleostei), as well as for ecological, biogeographic and stratigraphic aspects of the respective depositional environments and ecosystems. In addition to the aforementioned main part of the collection there are also considerable numbers of specimens of various important other European localities: Fishes from the Paleozoic of Germany (e.g. Bundenbach) and the Tertiary of Italy (e.g. Monte Bolca), Thrace (Turkey) and Southern Germany (each several hundred fossils) as well as singular finds. Due to the loss of the old inventory (and a large part of the old collection) during the Second World War (see Dehm 1978, Jung et al. 1993, cf. w. Dacque 1934) there has only been a later reconstructed, and since then in handwritten and typewritten form continued inventory without digital capture. Only for some of the most important items (types), there is a digital table of data. The extensive collection growth in recent years through the acquisition of private collections and the paleontological collection of the University of Wurzbourg, as well as through purchased acquisitions and, finally, the observation, that the BSPG collection is highly frequented by the international research, make a digital recording of the collection an urgent necessity.

Data Project and Service

The data project "The Fossil Fish Collection at the BSPG" provides more than 2,000 data records from fossil specimens with textual metadata linked to multimedia data. The around 400 taxa of Actinopterygii are from palaeontological sites of Europe. Nearly all digital units are georeferenced. Alltogether 7,000 high resolution images are done with the digitization station described under Digitalisation at the BSPG. Measuring scale and color checker chart are used to achieve the required international imaging standard. "The Fossil Fish Collection at the BSPG" is part of the DFG funded IDES project with the general aim to make the fish collections of the Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns accessible via internet through national and international portals. The data project uses Diversity Workbench components for data management, the taxonomy and nomenclature follows The Paleobiology Database and other sources such as the Mesozoic Fishes vols. 1-5, edited by G. Arratia et al. Data mobilization and digitization efforts are mainly done by Andrea Schwarz (temporary staff) and Dr. Markus Moser (curator).

The data collection "The Fossil Fish Collections at the BSPG" is maintained and expanded by staff members of the Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie. Notices of errors of any kind are much appreciated by the editorial staff. Technical support is provided by the IT Center of the Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns.

The Database "The Fossil Fish Collections at the BSPG" and – if not stated otherwise – its supporting files have been copyrighted © 2014–2024 by the Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie.

Please cite the data publication via GBIF as follows:
Moser, M. (2014 onwards). The Fossil Fish Collection at the Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie. – Accessed via http://www.gbif.org/dataset/470d1a14-15b7-44d8-9b2b-5ab03f77f7a4 on 201X-XX-XX. Data publisher: Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns. doi:10.15468/wskrvt.