Museum für Naturkunde Berlin Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
Dr. Christian Neumann

Dr. Christian Neumann

Telefon +49 (0)30 2093 8589
Fax +49 (0)30 2093 8868
E-Mail
Adresse Museum für Naturkunde
Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung
an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Invalidenstraße 43
10115 Berlin
Deutschland

• Aufgabengebiete
• Betreute Sammlungen
• Forschungsschwerpunkte
• Forschungsprojekte
• Lehrveranstaltungen
• weitere Aktivitäten
• Publikationen


Aufgabengebiete

  • Section Leader of Invertebrate Palaeozoology
  • Curator of the Palaeozoological Collections:
    - Echinodermata
    - Arthropoda (including the amber collection)
    - Bryozoa
    - Graptolites
    - Vermes
    - Trace Fossils
    - Cretaceous Collection
    - Mesozoic and Cenozoic glacial erratics

Betreute Sammlungen

  • Echinodermata: The collection yields fossil echinoderms of all known classes. A stronghold is the crinoid collection which contains many type specimens from JAEKEL, UBAGHS, SIEVERTS-DORECK and many others. The echinoid collection holds the large collection of Georg SCHWEINFURTH (1836-1925) (Late Cretaceous and Palaeogene of Egypt and the Middle East). Also many Recent echinoderms are stored in the collection of the Invertebrate Palaeozoology Section.
  • Arthropoda (exclusive Trilobites, see curatorship of Dieter Korn, and Ostracoda, see curatorship of David Lazarus): The definite highlight of the arthropod collection is the holotype of the strange Precambrian (Neoproterozoic)-aged Xenusion auerswaldae POMPECKJ from glacial erratics of northern Germany, which is regarded as a very primitive transitional lobopod/arthropod.

    NEW: Since July 2007, Xenusion auerswaldae is on display in our exhibition!

    The arthropod collection contains also numerous crustaceans and insects from the famous Jurassic Solnhofen lithographic limestone (mainly collections of SCHLOTHEIM and REDENBACHER) with many type specimens.
  • Amber Collection (Baltic and Saxonian Amber, e.g., BERENDT collection)


    http://download.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de/christian.neumann/m%C3%BCcke.jpg


    The collection consists of more than 40 000 Baltic and Saxonian Amber inclusions from the Eocene (approx. 55 million years old).


    http://download.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de/christian.neumann/bernsteinbig.jpg


    The museum houses the world's largest piece of Baltic Amber which is on display in our exhibition. It has a weight of 9.7 kilograms!


  • Bryozoans
  • Graptolites: The graptolite collection consist of (1) a systematic collection which is fully accessible and (2) the large stratigraphical/regional graptolite collection of Dr. Hermann JAEGER (1929-1992) (limited access only).
  • Devonian Hunsrück Slate collection: Our museum houses one of the largest and finest collections of fossils from the Hunsrück Slate. The Devonian-aged Hunsrück Slate near Bundenbach (Germany) is one of the most famous fossil deposits known. The spectacular fossils are often preserved with their soft tissues. The collection includes mainly arthropods (e.g., Nahecaris, Mimetaster, Cheloniellon, Palaeoisopus)and echinoderms (mitrates, pelmatozoans, brittle stars, starfish and crinoids). Many types are available, e.g. from STUERZ, JAEKEL and SCHMIDT (among others).
  • Trace fossil collection
  • The newly errected Cretaceous Collection: This is a regional/stratigraphical collection of Upper Cretaceous macrofossils. The collection contains numerous bed for bed collected echinoids, inoceramids, belemnites, ammonites, brachiopods, sponges and other fossils from: (1) The Late Cretaceous of Germany and adjacent areas (e.g., White Chalk of Lägerdorf, Kronsmoor and Rügen, Subhercynian and Lower Saxony Basins, Münsterland Basin, Regensburg Greensand). (2) The Late Cretaceous of Northern Spain (Navarra, Santander area, Basque Province). The majority of fossils stems from the research collection of Prof. Gundolf ERNST (1930-2002) and his working group. The collection is accessible for guest researchers.

    http://download.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de/christian.neumann/marsupites.jpg

    The worldwide distributed crinoid Marsupites testudinarius is an important index fossil for the Santonian stage of the Late Cretaceous. This specimen was collected in the chalk of Lägerdorf/Germany.

Forschungsschwerpunkte

  • I am interested in the ecology and evolution of biotic interactions among marine benthic organisms. Little is known from fossils about the evolution of symbiosis (= commensalism, parasitism and mutualism) over geological timescales. How do parasites influence host evolution? What are the origins of parasitic life histories? How do symbionts escape from host extinction? These problems, extensively studied by parasitologists, remain virtually untouched in palaeontology. The fossil holasteroid sea urchin Echinocorys can be used as a model taxon to study various aspects of symbiosis in deep time. It is a long-ranging taxon (Cenomanian-Thanetian) which survived the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Echinocorys was widespread and often dominated the soft-bottom communities. Moreover, its large size and assumed longevity favoured encounters with symbionts. Its availability in many collections makes the fossil echinoid Echinocorys a prime candidate for the examination of traces produced by symbiotic organisms.

Forschungsprojekte

  • "Endosymbionts of Fossil Echinodermata - Application of Neutron Radiography"
    Cooperators:
    - Olev Vinn (University of Tartu, Estonia)
    - Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin (Nikolay Kardjilov, André Hilger)

    http://www.tornadoropa.eu/echinoid_symbiosis/images_echinoid_symbiosis/D21810.jpeg

    Fossil crinoid columnal infested by the endosymbiotic tabulate coral Cladochonus sp. Left: photograph; right: neutron tomography. (Lower Carboniferous, Yorkshire)
    (Figure taken from Neumann et al. 2009)

  • "Fossil and Recent echinoderm skeletal tissue responses to parasite infestation: Clues for understanding the evolution of parasite-host systems"
    Cooperators:
    - Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin (Nikolay Kardjilov, André Hilger)
    - Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam (Simon Zabler)
    - Berliner Elektronenspeicherring-Gesellschaft für Synchrotronstrahlung (BESSY)

    http://www.tornadoropa.eu/echinoid_symbiosis/images_echinoid_symbiosis/D45325.jpg

    2-dimensional X-ray CT scan of Heteronardoa diamantinae, revealing a parasitic endoskelatal eulimid gastropod

  • "3D-visualisation of fossil insects embedded in historical amber collections affected by „amber aging“: Application of Synchrotron-Computer-Tomography"
    Cooperators:
    - Prof. Wilfried Wichard (University of Köln)
    - Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam (Simon Zabler)
    - Berliner Elektronenspeicherring-Gesellschaft für Synchrotronstrahlung (BESSY)

Lehrveranstaltungen

  • Introduction to Invertebrate Palaeontology
  • Biotic Interactions and Makroevolution

weitere Aktivitäten

Publikationen

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