Invertebrate Palaeontology Collections

The invertebrate collections include approx. 1 million specimens mainly from Denmark and Greenland. In addition there is material from other parts of the Earth, particularly Europ. To date about 250,000 have been registered. There are over 28,000 type and figured specimens relating to over 600 publications dating from the early 1900s (see Type collections). 

The collections are available to researchers, who wish to study them scientifically. Please note, however, that objects from the type collection - as a main rule - cannot be borrowed for use outside the museum. On the photo is seen a staff member helping guest researchers find the wanted fossils.

Highlights are the Lower Palaeozoic collections from the Danish island of Bornholm together with Greenland (including the unique Cambrian Sirius Passet fauna), Jurassic and Cretaceous faunas from Greenland, Cretaceous-Danian biotas from Denmark (including faunas across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary) and various invertebrates from the Paleogene Fur Formation of Jutland. In addition a considerable collection of micro fossils, from unicellular algae and protozoa to conodonts.

Spectacular specimens
A number of specimens in the collections have figured prominently in the history of palaeontology. The large trilobite Paradoxides paradoxus from Count Carl Gustav Tessin's collection was first named Entomolithus paradoxus by Linné in 1753, whereas Charles Darwin figured Polliceps carinatus Phillippi from Messina in his monograph on barnacles and Charles Lyell figured the nautiloid mollusc Hercoglossa danica Schlotheim from Fakse in his textbook ‘Principles of Geology'. Some of the specimens are also spectacular. An example of Inoceramus (Sphenoceramus) steenstrupi from Greenland is almost 180 cm long, one of the world's largest shelled invertebrates.

Laboratory and photographic facilities are available for visitors to the collections. 

Curators:

David A.T. Harper
Arne T. Nielsen (the Palaeozoic)
Jan A. Rasmussen (the Mesozoic-Cenozoic)