Overview

Systematic paleontology – devoted to understanding the diversity of life as represented in the fossil record – has been at the heart of PRI since its beginning. PRI’s founder and first Director, Gilbert Harris (1865-1952), and our second Director, Katherine Palmer (1895-1982), were among the world’s foremost authorities on the diversity of fossil mollusks (clams, snails, and their relatives) from the Cenozoic Era (the past 66 million years), describing hundreds of species during their long careers.

Research at PRI today continues and expands this tradition, with ongoing work by PRI researchers (and affiliated students from Cornell University) on the diversity and evolution of marine mollusks (fossil and living) and other organisms, in the U.S. and around the world. Staff and students also pursue theoretical research on how evolution in these and other groups of organisms happen over very long time periods (macroevolution), especially how new species appear.