The North
Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences' paleontology collection includes
approximately 32,000 vertebrate, 18,000 invertebrate, and 500 paleobotanical
specimens. The single most important specimen among the Museum's paleontological
holdings is the world's best-preserved and most complete Acrocanthosaurus
atokensis. Beginning
in April 2000, the Museum will be the only place in the world to see an
articulated, real Acrocanthosaurus skeleton on display. The Museum
also holds a nearly complete specimen of the dinosaur, Thescelosaurus,
shown here at left.
Vertebrate specimens include fish, mammals, reptiles, and dinosaurs. Catalogued fish specimens total 20,000, the Museum's most extensive fossil vertebrate holdings. Most of these are from the Pliocene of North Carolina.
A
large collection of Cretaceous crocodilian and turtle specimens makes
up most of the reptilian portion of the paleontology collection. A good
collection of North Carolina dinosaur material also exists. The fossil
mammal collection holds one of the largest clusters of giant ground sloth
(Eremotherium) bones of the Pliocene/Pleistocene age ever found
North of Florida. These fossils were donated by the city of Wilmington,
N.C. A sloth skeleton is being articulated for display in the Museum beginning
in April 2000.
North Carolina invertebrates include the type specimen of Precambrian sea pen, Pteridinium carolinensis, and a reference collection from the North Carolina Triassic made by Dr. Robert Hope of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, in the 1950s.
In the News:
NC mines reveal a world eons old [outside link]
Please direct loan or visitation inquiries to Curator of Paleontology Vince Schneider. Senior Curator of Paleontology Dale Russell holds a joint appointment at N.C. State University. Mary Schweitzer is Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology and Julia Clarke is Research Curator of Paleontology.
Staff Web Pages:
Vince
Schneider
Dale Russell
Mary Schweitzer
Julia Clarke
NMNH Paleobiology Department - Information and links about paleobiology, including a virtual tour of the dinosaurs at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
UC Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley The UCMP website has online collection catalogs, virtual exhibits, a nice education section, and a great collection of links.
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