313 J. Paleont., 83(2), 2009, p. 313 Copyright  2009, The Paleontological Society 0022-3360/09/0083-313$03.00 MAJOR DUTCH COLLECTIONS OF PERMIAN FOSSILS FROM TIMOR AMALGAMATED HANNEKE J. M. MEIJER, STEPHEN K. DONOVAN, AND WILLEM RENEMA Department of Geology, Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum – Naturalis, P.O. Box 9517, NL-2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands, meijerh@naturalis.nnm.nl, donovan@naturalis.nnm.nl, renema@naturalis.nnm.nl N INETY-FIVE PERCENT of the surface geology of The Nether- lands consists of various Pleistocene sedimentary sequences. Of the other five percent, the principal area of ‘solid’ geology is in the south around Maastricht, in the province of Limburg, jus- tifiably famous for its highly fossiliferous Upper Cretaceous suc- cession, including the type section of the Maastrichtian Stage. Paleozoic exposures are very rare and, most relevant to the dis- cussion herein, there is no exposed Permian succession. Yet the colonial history of The Netherlands makes it a haven for Permian researchers. The purpose of this brief communication is to alert interested researchers to the amalgamation of the Dutch Timor collections by the recent acquisition by the Nationaal Natuurhis- torisch Museum – Naturalis, Leiden (NNM), of more than 10,000 specimens of Permian fossils, mainly marine invertebrates, from West Timor, Indonesia. Together with the collections alreadypre- sent at Naturalis, this easily forms the largest concentration of fossils from Timor in any museum. Already present in NNM were the collections made on expe- ditions to Timor, a former Dutch colony, in 1910 and 1916, con- sisting of more than 10,000 samples of a diverse array of groups, including blastoids, crinoids, brachiopods, corals, ammonites and belemnites. Type specimens of more than 150 species are present in this collection for the corals and sponges alone (Leloux and Renema, 2007). The newly acquired collection was accumulated on several ex- peditions to West Timor, in 1934–1937, by Prof. Dr. H. A. Brou- wer, at that time the Director of the Geological Institute of the University of Amsterdam. The collection shows great species richness and diversity, and specimens are commonly well pre- served. Specimens are included from a number of localities throughout Dutch Timor, such as Tae Wei (Glenister and Furnish, 1987, p. 991) and Basleo, Nek Lape and Bihati (Charlton et al., 2002). The Permian of Timor is famous for its abundant and diverse fauna of marine invertebrates such as mollusks, brachiopods and echinoderms; it is these groups that make up the majority of the Amsterdam Timor collection. Notable specimens include various holotypes, such as of the crinoid Notiocrinus timoricus Wanner and the trilobite Triproetus gerthi (Gheyselinck). Permian fossils from Timor have been described by various specialists in a num- ber of publications (Charlton et al., 2002, p. 769–774), most no- tably the 16 volumes of the Pala ¨ontologie von Timor (Wanner, 1914–1929). The latter was based largely on the old NNM col- lection and partly upon material in Bonn. A further 500 speci- mens, approximately, of fossil marine invertebrates are available from the overlying Triassic deposits. Specific inquiries regarding the Amsterdam Timor collection, as well as requests for loan of portions of the collection, can be made via the authors or directly to Wouter Wildenberg (wildenberg@naturalis.nl). REFERENCES CHARLTON, T. R., A. J. BARBER, R. A. HARRIS, S. T. BARKHAM, P. R. BIRD, N. W. ARCHBOLD, N. J. MORRIS, R. S. NICHOLL, H. G. OWEN, R. M. OWENS, J. E. SORAUF, P. D. TAYLOR, G. D. WEBSTER, AND J. E. WHIT- TAKER. 2002. The Permian of Timor: Stratigraphy, palaeontology and pa- laeogeography. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 20:719–774. GLENISTER, B. F. AND W. M. FURNISH. 1987. New Permian representatives of ammonoid superfamilies Marathonitaceae and Cyclolobaceae. Journal of Paleontology, 61:982–998. LELOUX, J. AND W. RENEMA. 2007. Types and originals of fossil Porifera and Cnidaria of Indonesia in Naturalis NNM Technical Bulletin, 10:1–305. Available at http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/99762. WANNER, J. (ed.). 1914–1929. Pala ¨ontologie von Timor, nebst kleineren Bei- tra ¨gen zur Pala ¨ontologie einiger anderer Inseln des Ostindischen Arcgipels: ergebnisse der Expedition [1909–1911] G. A. Molengraff, J. Wanner, und F. Weber. Lief. 1–16. E. Schweizerbart, Stuttgart. ACCEPTED 30 OCTOBER 2008