The rare fossil marine diatoms from Oamaru (NZ) are among the most beautiful and interesting in the world: they date back to Late Eocene - Early Oligocene with more than 600 taxa! No doubt “the term Oamaru represents a magic charm to Diatomologists” (T.V. Desikachary & P.M. Sreelatha, 1989)
New Zealand recently banned the export of the samples as they are declared cultural heritage, but Diatom Lab legally obtained its many samples a few years ago, with all certifications, so don't miss the opportunity to get some microscope slides of [strewn or selected, micromanipulated] Oamaru diatoms!
Diatom Lab keeps a lot of samples coming from eight Oamaru locations (Allan's Farm , Forrester's Hill, Cormacks Siding, Jackson's Paddock, Bain's Farm, Totara, Flume Gully, Mavor's Farm). Finding so many different Oamaru locations at the same source is a rare event in the history of microscopy: don't miss the opportunity to admire all the eight localities!
In the gallery above you can see a small example of the species found: all photomicrographs were made using dry microscope objectives in differential interference contrast.
Several publications have been written on Oamaru diatoms, but the most complete atlas is Desikachar, T.V. & Sreelatha, P.M. 1989. Oamaru diatoms. Bibliotheca Diatomologica 19: 1–330.