Maria Lejeune-Carpentier (1910–1995): a memorial

Abstract. Maria Lejeune was by training a zoologist, working on living and fossil hexacorals. However, over a period of 16 years, she devoted her research attention to the microfossils contained in flakes of Upper Cretaceous flints, some from C. G. Ehrenberg’s classic collection, others from Belgium and the Baltic region. The results were published in 16 short papers, remarkable for the detail and precision of her descriptions and drawings. In addition, she made the first—and, so far, finest—large-scale models of fossil dinoflagellates. These were lodged in the Museum of the University of Liège, where she served as curator for 33 years (1942–1975). Eighteen years after her own micropalaeontological studies had ended, she aided W. A. S. Sarjeant in an extended restudy of her type material, reported in two joint papers.