Major Dutch Collections of Permian Fossils from Timor Amalgamated

Ninety-five percent of the surface geology of The Netherlands 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, justifiably famous for its highly fossiliferous Upper Cretaceous succession, including the type section of the Maastrichtian Stage. Paleozoic exposures are very rare and, most relevant to the discussion 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 Natuurhistorisch Museum - Naturalis, Leiden (NNM), of more than 10,000 specimens of Permian fossils, mainly marine invertebrates, from West Timor, Indonesia. Together with the collections already present at Naturalis, this easily forms the largest concentration of fossils from Timor in any museum.