Museum collections serve as a library for researchers to explore our natural world and ask and answer questions from a carefully documented catalog of life on Earth. The seven million+ invertebrate fossils and other related specimens (e.g., microfossils, trace fossils)  documented within our collections more than serve the formal paleontological community. We are a world-wide resource for students and early career researchers, elementary to collegiate educators, fossil and malacology enthusiasts, and colleagues across a wide variety of related fields of study.

Because Florida, the SE USA, circum-Caribbean, South America, and Antarctica experienced great changes over the past 65 million years, the discoveries we make and the fossils we catalog help to refine our understanding of the story of our state and surrounding areas. Not only was our state’s land mass submerged under the ocean periodically, the distribution of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species across the region traced a complex path of great change that ultimately brings us to the landscape we recognize today.

Supporting the Florida Museum’s Invertebrate Paleontology Collection empowers everything we do, including the daily tasks of specimen curation, mentoring future scientists, community outreach and education, and contributing to discovery (through fieldwork and excavations) and research.

You can support the Museum’s Invertebrate Paleontology Division by making a gift to the Invertebrate Paleontology Collection Endowment today, or select from one of our other important funds below.

Other funds

• Barbara and Reed Toomey Endowment in Invertebrate Paleontology Support teaching, research, and collection activities that promote and enhance the study of invertebrate paleontology at the Museum. Make a gift
• Jon L. and Beverly A. Thompson Chair Support an endowed chair at the museum with a research interest in invertebrate paleontology and stratigraphy. (Endowment) Make a gift
• R. Jerry Britt, Jr. Endowment Support paleobiologic research, particularly in field studies recognizing outstanding academic achievement in UF students. (Scholarships and Fellowships) Make a gift
• Vokes Endowment in Invertebrate Paleontology Support collection activities to promote and enhance study of invertebrate paleontology, including fieldwork, travel, scientific and popular publications, curation and collection care. Make a gift

These two funds are shared with the Invertebrate Zoology Collection but also benefit the Invertebrate Paleontology Collection and their collaborative research and education:

• Beal-Maltbie Endowment for Recent and Fossil Mollusks Support research in Malacology (75%) and Invertebrate Paleontology Collections (25%). Make a gift
• John Thomas Ladue McGinty Endowment Support McGinty Collection and mollusk research and education in Malacology (70%) and Invertebrate Paleontology (30%). Make a gift

Florida Museum photo courtesy of Roger Portell

A moon snail from the invertebrate paleontology collections went into space on the Blue Origin flight with UF’s Dr. Robert Ferl. Roger Portell provided the snail specimen. Florida Museum photo by Kristen Grace

Florida Museum photo courtesy of Roger Portell

Museum photo by Jeff Gage

Florida Museum photo courtesy of Roger Portell

Florida Museum photo courtesy of Roger Portell

Florida Museum photo by Kristen Grace

Florida Museum photo courtesy of Roger Portell

Volunteer Dr. Harry Lee and visiting researcher Richard Edwards work in Roger Portell’s area in Invertebrate Paleontology. Florida Museum photo by Kristen Grace

Florida Museum photo by Kristen Grace

Florida Museum photo courtesy of Roger Portell

Florida Museum photo courtesy of Roger Portell

Check out this and more digitized Florida Museum specimens on Sketchfab