Paleonet: most iconic / most important fossils

[bjoern kroeger]

Hello PaleoNet,

I am preparing a paleontological museum educational project on the history of live (very general) and for that purpose would like to know, which fossils  could be considered by you as the most important / most iconic for our past & current understanding of evolution and the history of life. 

I think of the Archeopteryx as an icon for a "missing link", the "Ohio animal" as an icon for extinction.

I also have fossils in mind, that are iconic for specific events, such as Anomalocaris for the Cambrian explosion.

I don't have necessarily individual fossils in mind, but also suite's like Trueman's Gryphaea and Brinkmann's Kosmoceras for gradualism  Willimsons Turkana molluscs for punctualism (but see Van Bocxlaer et al. 2007) etc.

Suggestions are welcome! (Probably there is already a compilation published somewhere?)

Thank you,
Björn Kröger




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Dr. Björn Kröger
Museum für Naturkunde
Invalidenstr. 43
D-10115 Berlin
Germany
http://www.tiefes-leben.de