Fossil Brachiopods
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of approximately 3,500 fossil brachiopods. These date from the Cambrian Period to the Quaternary and were collected between 1858 and 1997. Brachiopods, also known as lamp shells, are marine animals that live within two shells. Therefore, although not related, they look superficially similar to bivalve molluscs such as oysters and mussels. Unlike bivalves the two shells are of different sizes with the lower valve usually being larger and more convex. They lived on the sea bed and were sometimes attached with a stalk. They were much more abundant and varied in the geological past than they are today. This collection contains fossil brachiopods that are mostly from Scotland, with smaller numbers from the rest of Britain and a few from elsewhere. The major part of the collection, comprising about 2,300 specimens, is from the Carboniferous rocks of central Scotland. It includes examples of many of the brachiopod orders, including the lingulids, strophomenids, productids, orthids and spiriferids. There is also a significant collection of Ordovician and Silurian brachiopods from the Southern Uplands and the Girvan area. In addition, there are some Jurassic and Cretaceous brachiopods, from England. There are many figured and a few type specimens, mainly from the John Young collection.
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