South Australian Museum - North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000

Opalised BelemniteFossilised whale vertebra from Mt Gambier

The SA Museum collection of Ediacaran and Cambrian fossils has been greatly enlarged by the incorporation of collections from Adelaide University and the University of South Australia, making this a research resource of global importance for studying the fossil origin of metazoans and the so-called Cambrian explosion of animal life.

Parvancorina minchami with Sleepy lizard (Tiliqua rugosa). Image J Gehling

The key collections are:

• Ediacaran fossils of the Flinders Ranges,
• Cambrian fossils of the Flinders Ranges, Kangaroo Island, Yorke Peninsula and Mt Lofty Ranges,
• Late Triassic plant fossils from the Leigh Creek and Springfield Basins,
• Marine vertebrate and invertebrate fossils of the early Cretaceous of the Eromanga Basin of South Australia and Queensland, including opalised fossils,
• Marine invertebrate and vertebrate fossils of Cainozoic basins on the southern margins of South Australia,
• Early Tertiary plant fossils from coastal and interior basins,
• Cainozoic vertebrate fossils from the interior of South Australia,
• Quarternary vertebrate fossils from Naracoorte and elsewhere in Australia.