The CU Museum is closed. We will be reopening soon.Ìý

During this time, collection visits will be available by appointment and other special access requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.Ìý
Please email cumuseum@colorado.edu for more information.Ìý

Fossil Invertebrates & Paleobotany

Outstanding Fossil Insect Collections

We are among the few museums to have sizeable and historically important fossil terrestrial arthropod collections, including over 400 insect and spider type and figured specimens. The collection includes ~70,000 insect and spider compression fossils from Creede, Florissant, Green River, Latah, and Pitch Pinnacle Formations as well as Cockerell's fossil insect collections from Argentina and Siberia. Cockerell, Lanham, and Rohwer collected much of the fossil insect material in the early 1900s, and new material is now being collected and accessioned into our holdings from the Green River Formation of Colorado. The latter collections are largely due to collaborations with David Kohls. We also possess a large collection of over 3,400 fossil insects and spiders preserved in copal and amber from Madagascar, Colombia, and the Baltics.Ìý

Important Marine and Terrestrial Invertebrates

In addition to our focus on terrestrial arthropods, we have a collection of Mesozoic and Cenozoic invertebrate fossils from the Rocky Mountain Region that is one of the most extensive in the country. In total, we have approximately 100,000 marine invertebrate specimens, including 316 holotypes as part of this collection. Notable marine invertebrate material in our collections includes Don Eicher's foraminifera assemblages from the Cretaceous interior of North America, which includes important holotypes. We also have an excellent collection of Mesozoic bivalve and cephalopod mollusks from Chris Collom and the most complete collection of Tertiary non-marine mollusks from the Rocky Mountain Region.

fossilized plant

Fossil Plant Collections

We house a small, but historically important, collection of ~12,000 fossil plants, including ~250 type and figured specimens, primarily from the Eocene Florissant and Green River Formations of Colorado. Many of these specimens were collected by T.D.A. Cockerell and Wilmatte Porter Cockerell. The Quaternary calcareous nanoplankton collections of W. Hay are also among our holdings, many of which were instrumental in his work on global paleoclimate.Ìý

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