Collections
Collections of Fossil Invertebrates, Plants, and Traces
The ROM's large and diverse collections of non-vertebrate fossils (invertebrates, plants, and trace fossils) are of broad geographic and stratigraphic origin, with over 300,000 individual reference specimens represented on the collections databases. Approximately 12,000 of these represent type and figured specimens. Several extensive research, teaching, and historical collections are inventoried separately and account for another 100,000 specimens or more.
A number of specialized subsets are of particular interest to palaeontologists and researchers.
Lagerstätte Biotas (fossil occurrences featuring exceptional preservation or abundance):
- Burgess Shale: The ROM’s collection of Burgess Shale fossils is the largest and most comprehensive in the world, with more than 150,000 individual specimens representing 200 species from a dozen localities in southeastern British Columbia. New fieldwork and research led by ROM palaeontologist Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron continue to provide important clues to the origins of today’s animal diversity during the Cambrian Explosion – a unique chapter in the history of life. Over 30 new species have been named based on fossils in the ROM’s Burgess Shale collection.
- Mistaken Point: earliest complex Ediacaran organisms, Newfoundland
- Eramosa / Bertie: Silurian arthropods and early vertebrates, Ontario
- Bear Gulch: Mississippian invertebrates and plants, Montana, USA
- Mazon Creek: Pennsylvanian invertebrates and plants, Illinois, USA
- Cedar Lake: Cretaceous fossil-bearing amber, Manitoba
Ontario Macrofossils: The ROM’s holdings of Ontario fossils incorporate significant material of Precambrian through Quaternary age with coverage of all major taxonomic groups. Primary strengths include Paleozoic trilobites and echinoderms from south-central Ontario and adjacent areas, and fossils from Paleozoic and Mesozoic units in the Hudson Bay and James Bay lowlands in the north. Among important historical components are stromatoporoids and bryozoans studied by W.A. Parks and M.A. Fritz respectively.
Microfossil Collections: Conodonts, foraminifera, ostracods, and palynomorphs make up the bulk of the ROM’s microfossils. Although strongest in Carboniferous conodonts of North America, the collections also contain important comparative and reference specimens from lower and middle Paleozoic strata of Ontario, District of Mackenzie, and Eastern Canada.
Type, Figured and Referred Invertebrate, Plant, and Trace Fossils: The ROM is recognized internationally as an important repository for type and figured material. The more than 12,000 specimens in the expanding type section include historically significant collections of G.F. Matthew, W.A. Parks, and M.A. Fritz. All types are fully databased and portions of the type catalogue are available for downloading.
Type Catalogues
Cedar Lake Amber Types (PDF)
G.F. Matthew Type Collection (PDF)
McMaster University Type Collection (PDF)
Mistaken Point, Newfoundland Type and Figured Specimens (PDF)
W.A. Parks Type Collection (PDF)
Access to ROM Fossil Collections
The ROM’s collections are accessible to visiting scholars through pre-arranged appointment. Some materials may be made available through loan (view the ROM loan policy) on a case by case basis, to accredited researchers at other institutions. Primary types are generally not available for external loan. We welcome focused enquiries about our holdings.
Staff
Jean-Bernard Caron
Janet Waddington
David Rudkin
Peter Fenton
Research
Burgess Shale Projects
Palaeobiology, Palaeoecology, and Taphonomy
Holotype of the trilobite Asaphellus stubbsi Fortey, 2009 - Lower Ordovician, Morocco.
Anomalocaris canadensis, an early predator from the Burgess Shale, British Columbia.
Tullimonstrum gregarium, an animal of unknown affinities. Mazon Creek Lagerstätte, Illinois, USA.
Cystoid, Pleurocystites sp. cf. P. squamosus, Upper Ordovician, Ontario.
Alethopteris species, leaf from a seed fern, an extinct group of gymnosperms. Mazon Creek Lagerstätte, Illinois, USA.
Holotype of the fossil wasp Serphites paradoxus preserved in amber. Cretaceous, Cedar Lake, Manitoba.
