Invertebrate Paleontology

They’d been in the collections of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) since the 1870s when they were first discovered. Nestled in among the largest collection of trilobites, the unique fossils rested in drawers until 145 years later when Sarah...

The most famous fossils from the Cambrian explosion of animal life over half a billion years ago are very unlike their modern counterparts. These “weird wonders,” such as the five-eyed Opabinia with its distinctive frontal proboscis, and the fearsome apex...

Through careful study of exceptional specimens, graduate student Sarah Losso and faculty-curator Javier Ortega-Hernández show that some trilobites mated very much like extant horseshoe crabs thanks to their highly modified clasper-like limbs. "Claspers in...

MCZ Faculty-Curator Javier Ortega-Hernández and graduate student Marc Mapalo, along with colleagues, describe Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus, a new fossil tardigrade from Miocene Dominican amber. Read about the discovery in the Harvard Gazette and...

Javier Luque, postdoc in the Javier Ortega-Hernández Lab and MCZ Invertebrate Paleontology, speaks with the Harvard Gazette about research from him and an international team of researchers published in Science Advances.

Congratulations to MCZ Faculty-Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology, Javier Ortega-Hernández, recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award! This award is in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research...

For the past five years, MCZ Faculty-Curator Javier Ortega-Hernández has been collaborating with colleagues in China to learn more about arthropod evolution by using micro-CT scanning to create 3D models of fossils and view details that would be...

How different animals evolved their vision is displayed thanks to Ernst Mayr Library's ongoing exhibits features at Northwest Building, currently featuring the exhibit "Vision" (December 2014)

Curatorial Associate Jessica Cundiff gave a behind the scenes tour of the Invertebrate and Vertebrate Paleontology collections to a lucky group of visiting Harvard Alumni. Jessica showed them notable specimens such as an authentic Kronosaurus skull...

The Harvard Art Museums have recreated a historical cabinet of curiosities in the exhibit The Philosophy Chamber featuring MCZ specimens from Herpetology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate Paleontology and Ornithology collections. Read more info in the Harvard...