The Invertebrate Paleontology collection was established in 1875, when James Hall sold his collection of over 40,000 specimens to the American Museum of Natural History for $65,000. Since then the collection has grown from 40,000 specimens to an estimated 4.5 million specimens, of which 24,774 are types.  

Important contributions were made to the collections from AMNH collectors, including Robert Whitfield (Cretaceous mollusks), Harold Vokes (Cretaceous and Tertiary mollusks), Barnum Brown (Cretaceous mollusks), Otto Haas (Mesozoic ammonites), Norman Newell (Paleozoic bivalves from West Texas), Roger Batten (Paleozoic gastropods) and Niles Eldredge (Paleozoic trilobites).  

The collection continues to grow substantially today, through staff collecting. Dr. Neil Landman is adding significantly to the Mesozoic cephalopod collection by collecting extensively from within the Western Interior, Missouri, New Jersey and Maryland. His current interests include the Late Cretaceous cephalopod fauna in the United States Western Interior and the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary on the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plains.  

Acquisitions within the past decade include:

• the Mesolimulus walchi trackway from the Jurassic, Solenhofen Limestone of Bavaria (on display in the Hall of Ocean Life).
• a fossil Placenticeras meeki from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta (on display in the Grand Gallery).
• a large collection of Pliocene-Pleistocene Mollusca from South Florida.
• a fossil Phragmoteuthis from the Posidonienscheifer Formation of Germany.
• several fossil Proscorpius osborni from the Upper Silurian of New York.

AMNH Field Associates Martin Shugar and Andy Secher have put together a website on trilobites. To visit the site, click here. 

Fossil Invertebrates Contacts

Curator-in-Charge	Dr. Neil H. Landman	landman@amnh.org
Collection Management	Bushra Hussaini	hussaini@amnh.org