The South Australian Museum collection of Ediacaran and Cambrian fossils has been greatly enlarged by the incorporation of collections from the University of Adelaide 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.
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.