Paleozoic Invertebrates
Curator
Collection manager
About the collection
The fossil specimens in the collection mainly derive from Denmark and Greenland, with some materials from other parts of the globe, chiefly Europe.
Together with the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Invertebrate collection it encompasses some 1 million specimens.
Collection in numbers
- Estimated number of specimens: 1,000,000 (with Mesozoic and Cenozoic Invertebrates)
- Digitally available specimens: 0
- Percentage digitized: 0 %
Strengths
- Collections from Denmark
- Collections from Greenland
Important subcollections
- Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian invertebrates from Bornholm (the Baltic)
- Paleozoic invertebrates from Greenland
- Cambrian Sirius Passet Fauna of North Greenland
History
A number of specimens in the collection have played a central role in the history of palaeontology.
The great trilobite Paradoxides paradoxus from the collections of count Carl Gustav Tessin was first described by Carl von Linné as Entomolithus paradoxus in 1753. This historic specimen is on display in the exhibition Precious Things at the Zoological Museum.
A substantial and important part of the collection derive from specimens collected by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and its predecessors. This material is deposited at the Natural History Museum of Denmark in accordance with formal agreements between the two institutions.