he Museum of Evolution of Uppsala University  is a natural history museum in Sweden containing the largest fossil collection in Scandinavia. The number of items in today’s collection, which spans zoological, paleontological and mineralogical specimens, is approximately 5 million unique pieces, of which only a fraction are exhibited. Expeditions to China in the 20th century unearthed numerous unique paleontological treasures. The museum’s collection contains three teeth of the Peking Man, found by paleontologist Otto Zdansky during an expedition to Zhoukoudian in 1921. Due to its large collection of type specimens the museum is an important establishment in the field of biological systematics, and it maintains an active exchange with other scientific institutions worldwide.

Organisation

The Museum of Evolution consists of a paleontological, a botanical and a zoological section, all located on the grounds of the Evolutionary Biology Centre of Uppsala University. Each section has its own building with a display hall.

Botanical section

The Botanical section of the museum is not open to the public, but researchers and other visitors may access the collections after making an appointment with the museum. More than three million plant specimens are housed in its herbarium.

Paleontological section

The paleontological section of the museum holds many mesozoic fossils of marine reptiles, such as the ichthyosaur Ophthalmosaurus and the mosasaur Platecarpus. There are several original fossils of pterosaurs and dinosaurs. These include a unique specimen of the chinese sauropod Euhelopus zdanskyi and a cast of the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx lithographica, as well as the ceratopsid dinosaur Pentaceratops sternbergi and a skull of the hadrosaurid Parasaurolophus tubicen, the two latter genera both named by Wiman. The section contains a large collection of fossil mammalian specimens, as well as mounted skeletons of contemporary cetaceans and the fossilised mandible of an Eocene mysticete. There are also numerous fossils of invertebrates, such as trilobites, cephalopods, bivalve molluscs and corals. The mineral room contains a collection of both common and rare minerals from around the world, including zircon and malachite.

Zoological section

The Zoological section of the museum chiefly contains taxidermied animals from the modern era, and from various parts of the world. After a period of renovation, the Zoological section is once again open to visitors.