Collection Strengths

More than 60% of the Section's collections are from the United States. Of the remainder, 38% were collected from Western Europe, and about 2% are from elsewhere. Twenty-five percent of the Section's U.S. collections are from Pennsylvania. An additional 35% are from Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, and Montana. Over the last 20 years the Section's collections have been the focus of some 30 PhD dissertations and over 35 Master's theses. Aside from our North American visitors, many foreign visitors have come from the U.K., Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Russia, China, Thailand, Japan, and Australia.

Click here for a virtual tour of collection sites in recent years.

Taxonomic collection strengths from the United States

• Late Paleozoic trilobites from North America
• Carboniferous reef faunas
• Upper Devonian Glass Sponges from western New York
• Lower Carboniferous brachiopods of the central and western U.S.
• Carboniferous gastropods of the Appalachian Basin
• Carboniferous, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic decapod crustaceans
• Cambrian trilobites of the Appalachian Basin
• Devonian/Silurian scolecodonts
• Pennsylvanian age insects from the Appalachian Basin
• Florissant/Green River insects
• Upper Devonian Alfred Shale invertebrates of Western New York
• Lower Carboniferous Gilmore City (Hodges Quarry) invertebrates (especially gastropods)

Taxonomic collection strengths from Europe

• Jurassic invertebrates (insects, decapods, shrimp, ammonites, cuttlefish, crinoids, etc.) from the Solnhofen Limestone from Bavaria, Germany
• Mesozoic European ammonoid cephalopods

Additional taxonomic assets

• Echinoderms from the Hunsruck Slate (Lower Devonian) of Germany
• Middle Silurian crinoids (Dudley)
• Shrimp and other invertebrates from the Bear Gulch Limestone (Upper Mississippian) of Montana
• Cenozoic mollusks from Western Europe
• Eocene Monte Bolca decapods

Strengths of the Section of Invertebrate Paleontology

• No. 2 in U.S.— Lower Carboniferous brachiopods of the central and western U.S.
• No. 1 in U.S.— Jurassic Solnhofen invertebrate fossils from Bavaria, Germany
• No. 1 in U.S.— Late Paleozoic trilobites from North America
• No. 1 in U.S.— Carboniferous reef faunas
• No. 1 in U.S.— Upper Devonian Glass Sponges from western New York
• Top 5 in U.S.— Carboniferous gastropods of Appalachian Basin
• Top 5 in U.S.— Mesozoic European ammonoid cephalopods
• Top 5 in U.S.— Carboniferous, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic decapod crustaceans
• Top 5 in U.S.— Cambrian trilobites of the Appalachian Basin

All inquiries pertaining to the IP collection should be addressed to:
Albert D. Kollar
Collection Manager, Invertebrate Paleontology
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
4400 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412.622.5513 or kollara@carnegiemnh.org