Description

Students paleontologists can get a hands-on perspective of earth science and the biological animal kingdom with the Geoscience Invertebrate and Plant Fossil Demonstration Collection. This genuine set of 6 large fossilized specimens includes an example of an Arthropoda (i.e., arachnids, crustaceans, insects), Brachiopod (a group of lophotrochozoan animals that have hard "valves" also known as shells on the upper and lower surfaces), Gastropoda (snails or slugs), Coelenterata (sea anemone, coral animals, true jellies, comb jellies, and more), Echinodermata (sea creatures with radial asymmetry like starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars and more) and Cephalopoda (clams, snails or squid) phyla. Each specimen also includes a 3 x 4 inch plastic display base and is numbered and labeled with a name/information sticker for easy identification, which also can be left off for your student archeologists to guess the names and types of invertebrates!

Invertebrates (cold-blooded animals that lack a backbone) make up approximately 95 to 97 percent of animal species. Invertebrates also are multi-cellular (with cells that have different responsibilities in keeping the animal alive), have no cell walls, and reproduce by 2 reproductive cells (or gametes) that come together to produce a new organism of their species. This assortment of invertebrate fossil specimens in this collection will enhance your fossil curriculum as well as excite your students as they identify and learn about various types of invertebrates.