Paleozoic Collection

Fossils from the palaeozoic era
Life forms of the palaeozoic era (for identification of individual items, refer to the book page 13-14)

Archaeopteris hibernica, fossil plant
A fern-like plant, beautifully preserved in yellow sandstone from the Devonian, Kilkenny, Ireland. Specimen is 25 cms long

Coal forest diorama
A diorama of a Carboniferous coal forest (354 to 290 million years ago) previously on display at the former Geological Museum which is now part of the Natural History Museum, London

Eurypterus, a fossil eurypterid
The paddles used for swimming are very conspicuous in the Silurian eurypterid Eurypterus from New York State. This individual measures 12 cm in length

St. Cuthberts Beads - rosary made from crinoid columnals
Unidentified crinoid columnals used as beads for jewellery. Specimens from the Carboniferous Yoredale Shales, Ribblehead, Yorkshire

Calymene blumenbachii brongniart, trilobite
This trilobite originates from the 425 million year old Devonian Wenlock Limestone, Dudley, Worcestershire

Cooksonia pertoni, fossilised plant
A fossilised pin-sized plant. The earliest land plants were very small as seen in the minute bifurcating stems terminating in expanded spore sacs of Cooksonia pertoni, 10 mm in length

Phacops, a fossil trilobite
This Moroccan Devonian Phacops is enrolled, measuring 4.5 cm in width, and has a glabella covered in tubercles

Dalmanites, a fossil trilobite
This example of the Silurian trilobite Dalmanites, 4.2 cm long, shows to perfection the complex dorsal exoskeleton of these extinct arthropods

Asaphus (Neoasaphus) kowalewskii, stalk- eyed trilobite
A complete 3-dimensional stalk-eyed trilobite measuring about 5 cms, discovered at Wolchow River, near St. Petersburgh, Russia. The specimen dates back to the Middle Ordovician period

Permian landscape

Mariopteris muricata, seed fern
A leaf of a Carboniferous seed fern plant from Staffordshire

Mucrospirifer, a fossil brachiopod

Stigmaria ficoides, fossil root
This root is preserved in tough Carboniferous sandstone. Stigmaria is the name given to roots of the giant lycopod (prehistoric spore-bearing plant) Lepidodendron

Kodonophyllum truncatum, fossil coral
Kodonophyllum truncatum (Linne) from the Silurian period, Dudley, West Midlands, England

Calymene blumenbachii, trilobite model
Depicted here is a model of a Silurian-Devonian trilobite. Trilobites had a carapace, or shell. They were arthropods as crustaceans, spiders and insects are today

Fossiliferous limestone
Wenlock Limestone from Dudley. Middle Silurian about 420 million years ago

Dimerocrinus, fossil crinoid
Dimerocrinus, a small stemmed crinoid (sea-lily) of Silurian age. The long stem supports a 1.8 cm high crown mostly consisting of the arms employed in feeding

Carboniferous crinoid garden
Artists impression of Carboniferous (354 to 290 million years ago) underwater crinoid garden

Neuropteris gigantea (Sternberg), Pteridosperm
Part of a frond of Neuropteris gigantea, an Upper Carboniferous plant, a Pteridosperm, from Coseley, near Bilston, west Midlands. Range; Genus, Carboniferous; Species, Westphalian

Stigmaria ficoides (Brongniart), Lycopod
Part of rootscock of a Lycopod, a Carboniferous plant (x1/2.) Upper Carboniferous; Dudley, West Midlands. Range: Carboniferous, 359 to 300 million years ago

Goniatites, fossil ammonite
In marked contrast to Dactylioceras, this Carboniferous Goniatites has a shell in which successive whols overlap stongly, giving a narrow, deep umbilicus

Hydnoceras tuberosum, fossil glass sponge
A vase-shaped, fossil glass (silaceous skeleton) sponge from the Devonian of New York

Asteroxylon mackiei, clubmoss
A wax model reconstruction of the Early Devonian plant Asteroxylon mackiei, a clubmoss, approximately 10cm tall. Original specimen discovered at Rhynie Chert, Scotland

Pentremites spicatus, blastoid
A Carboniferous blastoid from Grayson Co, Kentucky, U.S.A

Sphenopteris laurenti, fossil fern
This specimen dates from the Middle Coal Measures, Carboniferous, Clay Cross, Derbyshire, England. The frond is 9 cms long

Alethopteris lonchitica, fossil seed fern
Shown here is a frond of the seed fern Alethopteris, specimen originating from Carboniferous rocks near Barnsley, England

Syringopora, fossil coral
Silicified colony of the tabulate coral Syringopora from the British Carboniferous. The tubular corallites are about 2 mm in diameter

Sopwith Model III: Dislocation of strata
This model represents the side of a valley of denudation, with undisturbed horizontal beds of sedimentary rock when fully assembled

Dorsal & Ventral Isotelus platycephalus
Syntype (?Holotype by monotypy) of Asaphus, now Isotelus platycephalus (Stokes, 1824) Ordovician, Black River Group; St Josephs Island, Lake Huron, Ontario Bigsby Colln. Date: 1824

Conodont, Hindeodus cristulus
Hindeodus cristulus Microscopic fossils from the Carboniferous period, Vis顮 (Avonian), Middle Hosie Limestone; near Pittenweem, Fife, Scotland. (Scale bar = 171 microns

Fossil Holothurian or sea cucumber
Staurocystis quadrifasciata, 6.5 cm long, from the Silurian, Wenlock Limestone of Dudley in Worcestershire, England

Trimerus, a fossil trilobite
Fully preserved, 10 cm long specimen of the Silurian trilobite Trimerus

Deltoblastus, a fossil blastoid
Deltoblastus, 1.5 cm in diameter, from the Permian of Timor. side view

Castericystis vali, a fossil Carpoid
Castericystis vali, 7 cm long with juvenile 0.8 cm long attached at the bottom of the stele, from the Middle Cambrian of Utah

Archimedes swallovanus, bryozoan
Fossil bryozoan dating from the Carboniferous rocks, Mississippian, Golconda Fm. Marigold, Illinois, U.S.A

Crystal apple - cystoid echinoderm
NHM E10. Echinosphaerites aurantium (Gyllenhall). Ordovicain, Popouka, St Petersburg, Russia

Cambrian trilobites from the Falkland Islands
Trilobites from a cobble of archaeocyathan limestone from Port Purvis: PS 218, specimen number NHM PI PO 12074 in the collection of the Palaeontological Department of The Natural History Museum

Hallucigenia sparsa, velvet worm
A velvet worm fossil from the Middle Cambrian, Burgess Shale, British Columbia

Anomalocaris model
Model of the swimming predator Anomalocaris based on fossils from the Cambrian Burgess Shale, 520 million years old

Calamites suckowi (Brongniart)
Pith cast of Calamites suckowi, an Articulate, Carboniferous plant. Upper Carboniferous; Gosforth, near Newcastle-on-Tyne. Range: Genus, Carboniferous, Species, Westphalian

Burgessia bella, fossil arthropod
An arthropod fossil which lived on the sea floor, dating from the Middle Cambrian, Burgess Shale, British Columbia

Alethopteris serli (Brongniart), Pteridosperm
Part of a frond of Alethopteris serli, a Pterisosperm, a plant from the Upper Carboniferous, Newcastle-on-Tyne. Range: Genus, Carboniferous; species, Westphalian

Bactrites carinatus, nautiloid
This straight nautiloid Bactrites carinatus originates from the Devonian of Germany

Visbyshaera oligofurcata, acritarch
Scanning electron microscope image of a microfossil belonging to a group of marine phytoplanktonic organisms known as acritarchs that teemed in Silurian seas about 415 Ma ago

Crassigyrinus
The fossil of a Crassigyrinus, an early amphibian that lived during the Carboniferous period

Silurian seafloor
An artists impression of the seafloor of the shelf sea surrounding Britain during the Silurian (443 to 417 million years ago), with trilobites, brachiopods, rugose corals, and molluscs

Cephalaspid, fishes
Block of Old Red Sandstone from the Lower Devonian period about 400 million years ago containing the skeletons of cephalaspid fishes

Carboniferous coal forest
Artists impression of the swamp forests of ferns and other non-flowering plants which covered much of Britain towards the end of the Carboniferous period (354 to 290 million years ago)

Tubicaulis africanus, tree fern
Common plants of the Palaeophytic. Part of a petrified trunk of the tree fern Tubicaulis africanus, approximately 14cm wide, from the Permian Period, Tanganyika, Africa

Pterichthyodes, fossil fish
Specimen about 370 million years old from the Devonian period with a paper model built by Hugh Miller (1802-56) to help in the understanding of this fossil fish

Silurian landplants
An artists impression of the the earliest vascular plants which developed beside freshwater pools during the Silurian (443 to 417 million years ago)

Photomicrograph: Acanthomorph acritarch, microfossil

Palaeosmunda williamsonii, fern
Petrified trunk of the fern Palaeosmunda williamsonii, approximately 4cm wide, from Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia, dating back to the Permian Period, about 250 - 299 million years ago

Sigillaria mamillaris (Brongniart), Lycopod
Part of a stem of a Sigillaria mamillaris, a lycopod, a Carboniferous plant. Upper Carboniferous; Darton, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, Range: Genus, Carboniferous-Permian, Species, Westphalian

Hurdia victoria, ancient fossil
This fossil dates from the Middle Cambrian rocks of the Burgess Shale, British Columbia

Agnostid trilobite of Cambrian age, found in deep water. It is a blind trilobite of only a few millimetres long, with only two thoracic segments

Conodont fossils
Scanning electron microscope image of fossils from the Devonian period of northern Estonia, about 465 Ma old ( x 4.2). These creatures are still a mystery to paleontologists

Triassic and Devonian rocks
An angular unconformity between two rock formations: Triassic rocks (horizontal) on Devonian rocks (inclined at about 40 degrees), western England, UK

Polygonal corallites
The simple, polygonal corallites of favosites are well seen in this 6 cm high polished block from the Devonian of south-west England

Calymene blumenbachii, locust trilobite
Specimens of locust tribolites (Calymene blumenbachii) from Silurian, Wenlock Limestone, Dudley, West Midlands

Sinospirifer sp. stone swallow (Shih-yen) brachiopods
A collection of stone swallow (Shih-yen) brachiopods from the Devonian rocks of China

Hexagonella, bryozoan
A 5 cm long branch of Hexagonella from the Permian of Australia. This cystoporate bryozoan has polygonal subcolonies bounded by ridges

Remopeurides, a fossil trilobite
Probably planktonic, Remopeurides is a small trilobite - this Scottish Ordovician example being less than 2 cm long - with an inflated glabella

Metaldetes
A small block of limestone, 5 cm across, from the Cambrian of South Australia, containing sectioned specimens of the archaeocyathan sponge Metaldetes

Elrathia kingii, trilobites
Elrathia kingii in rock matrix, from Middle Cambrian, Wheeler Shale, House Range, Utah, USA

Didymograptus, fossil graptolite
The two tuning-fork graptolite on this piece of Welsh Ordovician shale belong to the genus Didymograptus and have branches some some 5 cm in length with sawtooth-like thecae

Gonioclymenia laevigata, ammonoid
An extinct, marine fossil invertebrate from the class Cephalopoda belonging in the phylum Mollusca (molluscs). Photographed by Beatriz Aguirre-Urreta

Kosmoclymenia undulata, ammonoid
An extinct, marine fossil invertebrate from the class Cephalopoda belonging in the phylum Mollusca (molluscs). Photographed by Beatriz Aguirre-Urreta

Phacops rana africanus, trilobite
This trilobite shown in the balled position originated from the Devonian period c. 380-370 million years ago, in the Tifariti area, Spain

Syringopora reticulata (Goldfuss), coral
A coral dating from the Carboniferous Limestone c.354-327 million years old. Kendal, Westmorland

Chasmatopora furcata eichwald, bryozoan
This bryozoa specimen is 470-458 million years old, dating from the Middle Ordovician period, Kuckersits, Estonia

Cothurnocystis elizae Bather, carpoid
The carpoids were a member of the Echinoderms. Specimen dates from the Upper Ordovician, Armillan Series, Drummuck Group Starfish Bed. Ayrshire c. 449m yrs old

Trinucleus, a fossil trilobite
The pitted cephalic fringe is clearly seen in this 1.3 cm wide specimen of Trinucleus from the Ordovician of Wales

Trinodus, a fossil trilobite
Measuring less than a cm, this Scottich Ordovician trilobite Trinodus has a much reduced thorax between the larger head and cephalon

Megapezia footprints
Shown here are the fossilized footprints thought to have been made c. 340m yrs ago by Megapezia. Specimen originates from Yorkshire, England

Calymene, trilobite
This specimen dates from the Middle Silurian, Worcestershire

Fenestrellina plebeia, net bryozoan
A net bryozoan (colonial organisms) from the Carboniferous of North of Wales. In this specimen, the colony measures 6 cms across

Camarotoechi, brachiopod
Shown here is a slab containing many Silurian brachiopods. Brachiopods belong to their own phylum (Brachiopoda). General characteristics include a pair of protective shells

Wanneria walcottana, trilobite

Permian desert
An artists impression of the Permian desert with huge sandunes and sandstone mountains (290 to 248 million years ago) in Northern England

Psaronius, tree fern
Polished section through the trunk of the tree fern Psaronius, width approximately 15 cm, from Chemnitz, Garmany, dating back to the Permian period, 250 - 299 million years ago

Pemmatites, lithistid sponge
This sponge originates from the Permian rocks of the Artic island of Spitzbergen

Doleorthis, brachiopod
Shown here is Doleorthis, a Silurian brachiopod. Brachiopods belong to their own phylum (Brachiopoda). General characteristics include a pair of protective shells

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