Field Museum of Natural History
Species represented in Evolving Planet Type Specimen Notes
Cardipeltis agnathan fossil skeleton
Drepanaspis agnathan fossil skeleton
Tiktaalik sarcopterygian fossil skeleton
Acheloma temnospondyl fossil skeleton
Bradysaurus pareiasaur fossil skeleton
Cacops dissorophid temnospondyls fossil skeleton
Captorhinus captorhinid fossil skeleton
Casea pelycosaur synapsids fossil skeleton
Dicynodont anomodont therapsids fossil skeleton
Edaphosaurus edaphosaurid synapsid fossil skeleton
Eryops temnospondyl fossil skeleton
Jonkeria dinocephalians fossil skull
Labidosaurus anapsid reptile fossil skeleton
Lycaenops carnivorous therapsids fossil skull
Ophiacodon ophiacodontidae synapsid fossil skeleton
Seymouria primitive tetrapod fossil skeleton
Diasparactus diadectid reptiliomorph fossil skeleton
Sphenacodon synapsid fossil skeleton
Varanops varanopid synapsid fossil skeleton
Anchiceratops ceratopsid dinosaur fossil skull
Permanent exhibitions -- Evolving Planet
Evolving Planet follows the evolution of life on Earth over 4 billion years . The exhibit showcases fossils of single-celled organisms , Permian synapsids , dinosaurs , extinct mammals , and early hominoids . [ 31 ] The Field Museum 's non-mammalian synapsid collection consists of over 1100 catalogued specimens , including 46 holotypes . The collection of basal synapsids includes 29 holotypes of caseid , ophiacodontid , edaphosaurid , varanopid , and sphenacodontid species - approximately 88% of catalogued specimens . [ 32 ]
The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum maintains its status as a premier natural-history museum through the size and quality of its educational and scientific programs, as well as due to its extensive scientific-specimen and artifact collections. The diverse, high-quality permanent exhibitions, which attract up to two million visitors annually, range from the earliest fossils to past and current cultures from around the world to interactive programming demonstrating today's urgent conservation needs. The museum is named in honor of its first major benefactor, the department-store magnate Marshall Field. The museum and its collections originated from the 1893 Worlds Columbian Exposition and the artifacts displayed at the fair. The museum maintains a temporary exhibition program of traveling shows as well as in-house produced topical exhibitions. The professional staff maintains collections of over 24 million specimens and objects that provide the basis for the museums scientific-research programs. These collections include the full range of existing biodiversity, gems, meteorites, fossils, and rich anthropological collections and cultural artifacts from around the globe. The museum's library, which contains over 275,000 books, journals, and photo archives focused on biological systematics, evolutionary biology, geology, archaeology, ethnology and material culture, supports the museums academic-research faculty and exhibit development. The academic faculty and scientific staff engage in field expeditions, in biodiversity and cultural research on every continent, in local and foreign student training, and in stewardship of the rich specimen and artifact collections. They work in close collaboration with public programming exhibitions and education initiatives.