Tomographic models of trilobites and euarthropods on a black background

Specimens acquired in the 1870's shed light on convergent evolution of defensive enrollment

January 2, 2024

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 Losso, PhD candidate in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (OEB) at Harvard, began combing through the collection of trilobites as part of her dissertation.

“I started my PhD going through all of these thin sections of trilobites,...

Artistic reconstruction of the Ordovician fossils Mieridduryn bonniae

Welsh “weird wonder” fossils add piece to puzzle of arthropod evolution

November 15, 2022

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 predator Anomalocaris with its radial mouthparts and spiny feeding appendages, have become icons in popular culture. However, they were only quite recently recognised as extinct stages of evolution that are crucial for understanding the origins of one of the largest and most important animal phyla,...

Some trilobites mated like extant horseshoe crabs

May 6, 2022

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.

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An oval piece of amber embedded with tiny invertebrate fossils

Water bear fossil found in 16-million-year-old amber

November 5, 2021

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...

image of a piece of amber with a fossilized crab inside

Rare crab in amber offers evolution clues

October 27, 2021

Javier Luque, postdoc in the Javier Ortega-Hernández Lab and MCZ Invertebrate Paleontology, speaks with the... Read more about Rare crab in amber offers evolution clues

Javier Ortega-Hernández receives NSF CAREER award

April 8, 2021

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 and education, and the integration of these endeavors in the context of their organizations' missions.

Researchers Dayou Zhai (from left), Yu Liu, and Javier Ortega-Hernández, looking at the 3D model of Ercaicunia. Photo by Dayou Zhai

Micro-CT lets scientists see telling 3D details in arthropod evolution

September 15, 2020

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 impossible to see otherwise. Read more about the ongoing project in the...

Harvard Alumni tour of Paleontology collections

February 9, 2018

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, inspiration for the model on display in the HMNH

MCZ objects featured in the new Harvard Art Museums exhibit, The Philosophy Chamber

May 17, 2017

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 Magazine.

New exhibit on vision in the Northwest Building

December 1, 2014

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)

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Invertebrate Paleontology