Two centuries of foraminiferal taxonomy: The primary type collection of the Natural History Museum Vienna

This work describes the primary type collection (holotypes, lectotypes, neotypes, and syntypes) of foraminifera at the Natural History Museum Vienna. The collection dates back to the material of Fichtel and Moll from the 18th century and covers the geographic area of the former Habsburg Empire as well as some special locations outside of the Empire (e.g., New Zealand and the Philippines). A historic context of the collection is provided, as well as a chronological discussion of the type material for each author from 1798 to 2018. A statistical analysis of the metadata associated with more than 500 type species, including stratigraphic age, area of origin, and date of description emphasizes the diversity and scientific spectrum of the collection. With this combined approach, the significance of the Vienna type collection as one of the most important repositories for foraminiferal taxonomy is highlighted, which has a history of more than 200 years.