Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 29-30/2. (2010)
Paleontology
Aurelian POPESCU since then, one of its quite important collections. The collection is extremely varied, both from the systemic point of view and as far as the geological age of the samples is concerned. Material and methods For this paper 150 items of the “Ion Stänoiu” collection were available. Actually, the samples are deposited on the shelves of the Paleontology storeroom of the Museum. In the general inventory record of the Natural Sciences Office, these samples are registered at the inventory numbers 1318-1445. The fossil samples are in a good conservation state, over 140 of them being ready to be displayed. I checked the denominations of the species and, in certain cases, I have updated them. For this purpose I used specific references [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] as well as some websites [6], [7], [8]. I carried on with the systematic sorting of the species and I arranged them according to the geological age of each one. Results and discussions The Palaeontology Collection of the Museum of Oltenia is one of the collections which were the starting point for the museum, in 1915. The first samples came from the collection called “Alexandru and Aristia Aman”. These were two Maecenas of Craiova who practically donated their entire heritage to the state, thus contributing to the foundation of the Museum of History and Ethnography, of the Art Museum and of the County Tibrary. In time, the collection was enlarged, reaching over 16000 items through acquisitions, donations, getting in, discoveries, research etc. Table 1: The Paleontology Collection of the Museum of Oltenia COLLECTION I NO. OF ITEMS Ion STÄNOIU____________________________________________________150 Ion PÁTRUTOIU________________________________________________________1012 Ana MALOS______________________________________________________________189 Titus BRUSTUR___________34 BAIA DE FIER__________________________________________________________1009 DONATIONS - GETTING IN BUGIULESTI_____________________________3653 MAMMAL AND MOLLUSK SAMPLES 7700 GETTING IN AND DONATIONS TO THE MUSEUM___________________2 593 TOTAL 16340 A short glimpse on the structure of paleontological patrimony of the museum (Table 1) leads to the conclusion that, taking into account the number of samples, the collection titled “Ion Stänoiu” is a small one — even the penultimate in rank. The volume of samples is also rather small - so that all the items could fit into a recipient of less than 1 m3. Nevertheless, I state that we are in the presence of a truly valuable paleontological collection, and this value could be synthesized in one word: diversity. From the systemic point of view, the collection is extremely varied, including:- plants - 10 species: Conocorypbes sulzeri, Graptolithes bohemicus, Catamites suckovii, Pecopteris sp., Lepidodendron aculeatum, Sphaenophyllum emarginatum, Odontopteris sp., Neuropteris sp., Syringodendron sp., Alethopteris dentata;- invertebrates - 110 species belonging to the following groups:- protozoa: Nummulitesperforatus, N. intermedia;- graptolithes: Bohemograptus bohemicus', 158
