Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Asaphus Trilobite Fossil Displayed at AMNH


I visited the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York city this month. It is a massive museum that I could not see in one day. Not for a lack of trying, in that I arrived well before they opened and left when they were about to close. My camera battery depleted about 30 minutes before I left.

While impressive displays and specimens are shown there, for an invertebrate fossil enthusiast, I was a little disappointed. They list their collection of these types of fossils at over 400,000 specimens but I think saw less than 30 on display. In the Grand Gallery was a trilobite display case with world-class specimens. This trilobite fossil was in the Ordovician section and named Asaphus kowalewskii. It was found in the Asery Formation of St. Petersburg, Russia. Accession number is Fl-74836 and was donated by the family of James Kaste.

The museum is a great place to visit. Their dinosaur collection has to be one of the best on Earth and I really liked the display on fossil sharks. Learn more about the museum at https://www.amnh.org/

Their trilobite exhibit was made possible by Dr. Martin Shugar, M.D. and Andy Secher who are also editors for the AMNH trilobite web site.