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Microfossils

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2017

Jere H. Lipps
Jere H. Lipps*
Affiliation:
Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley 94720
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Microfossils are the tiny remains of bacteria, protists, fungi, animals, and plants. Microfossils are a heterogeneous bunch of fossil remains studied as a single discipline because rock samples must be processed in certain ways to remove them and microscopes must be used to study them. Thus, microfossils, unlike other kinds of fossils, are not grouped according to their relationships to one another, but only because of their generally small size and methods of study. For example, fossils of bacteria, foraminifera, diatoms, very small invertebrate shells or skeletons, pollen, and tiny bones and teeth of large vertebrates, among others, can be called microfossils. But it is an unnatural grouping. Nevertheless, this utilitarian subdivision of paleontology, first recognized in 1883, is very significant in geology, paleontology, and biology.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Paleontological Society Papers , Volume 2: Learning from the Fossil Record , October 1996, pp. 217 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 by The Paleontological Society 

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References

Useful References

Blome, C. E., Whalen, P. M., and Reed, K. M. (Convenors). 1995. Siliceous Microfossils. Paleontological Society Short Courses in Paleontology Number 8, 185 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boardman, R. S., Cheetham, A. H., and Rowell, A. J. (Eds.). 1987. Fossil Invertebrates. Blackwell Science, 238 Main St., Cambridge, MA 02142, 713 p. An advanced college-level text on fossil invertebrates with excellent descriptions and good illustrations. Google Scholar
Brasier, M. D. 1980. Microfossils. George Allen & Unwin, London, 193 p. Brief overview of major groups of microfossils. Simple drawings of each kind of microfossil. Google Scholar
Haq, B. U., and Boersma, A. (Eds.). 1978. Introduction to Marine Microfossils. Elsevier, New York, New York, 376 p. A college text describing important microfossils found in marine rocks, excluding fish parts. Good illustrations. Google Scholar
Lipps, J. H. 1981. What, if anything, is micropaleontology? Paleobiology, 7:167–199. An essay on the history, use, and potential of microfossils in paleontology.Google Scholar
Lipps, J. H. (Ed.). 1992. Fossil Prokaryotes and Protists. Blackwell Science, 238 Main St., Cambridge, MA 02142, 342 p. A college-level text on microfossils of single-celled prokaryotes and protists. Good illustrations showing the variety of forms and their terminology, as well as detailed descriptions of their paleobiology, biostratigraphy, and evolutionary history. Google Scholar