Tina Negus (Christina L. née Batty, born 1941[1]) is a British zoologist, painter and poet[2] who is credited as the original discoverer of Charnia, the first ever known Precambrian fossil.
[8][9] In recognition of her pioneering work, the University of Reading commissioned the Tina Negus Prize to graduate students of biology since 2019.
[10] Growing up in "Liassic (limestone sediments of Early Jurassic, about 200 to 180 million years old) sandstones and clays", as she described her upbringing, her childhood activities were mostly collecting fossils, and was familiar with ammonites and belemnites.
[5] Enthused by her passion for fossils, she decided to become a geologist and study geology in higher education, which was dissuaded by her geography teacher in the sixth form.
Trying to identify the fossil herself, she searched through all possible information from books and local museum, but found no matching image of her ancient frond.
Mason's father was a teacher at the University of Leicester and quickly approached his young colleague and geologist, Trevor D. Ford.
[16][17] He reported the description in the September 1958 issue of the Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, drawing a conclusion: Several specimens of two new fossils recently found in the Woodhouse Beds of the Charnwood Forest Pre-Cambrian succession are described and named Charnia masoni and Charniodiscus concentricus...
"[28] Negus's role was properly recognised at the seminar at Leicester University celebrating the 50th anniversary of Charnia discovery, where she was invited alongside Mason and Ford.
[2] In her master's degree course in zoology at the University of Reading, Negus researched on the ecology of the River Thames for her dissertation in 1964 and focussed on the diversity and abundance of mussels.
Negus's selection of the mussels was notable in that the animals account for 90% of all living organisms recorded by weight on the Thames' riverbed.
[8] The importance of her research was realised and revived in 2022 when University of Cambridge scholar Isobel Ollard re-investigated the same mussel ecology at the same site.
[34] The alarming case was not only on the number, but also on the reduced sizes of the mussels, which is a scientific method of determining the deterioration of the Thames' ecosystem.
[35][36] According to Ollard, the policies on Thames conservation had prevented the total disappearance of the mussels and the stable, albeit critically low number, is an indication that the river ecosystem is improving.
[8] In recognition of her pioneering work, the University of Reading commissioned the Tina Negus Prize to graduate students of biology since 2019.