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Living Fossil
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Mon Dec 18 2000 at 3:26:12
A species that has survived over extended periods of
geologic time
with little or no change to their appearance and
biology
. One popular living
fossil
is the
coelacanth
, a funny-looking fish that was thought to be extinct for over 80 million years until it was hooked off the coast of
South Africa
in 1938.
Other examples are the
tuatara
, a lizard-like reptile from
New Zealand
, and the
Ginkgo
and
Metasequoia
, species of trees often found in parks and botanical gardens.
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pimephalis
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Thu Jun 07 2001 at 17:22:14
There are a number of other species that are commonly referred to as living fossils. As a result of geographic isolation, most of these species are
Australia
n. This should be considered a partial list, at best, given the rate at which new
species
are discovered:
Horseshoe crab
Ommatidae
-- A group
beetle
s now thought to be Austrailia's oldest residents (200 million years)
Duck-billed platypus
Spiny ant-eater
Nightcap oak
Wollemi pine
Anaspides
Nautilus
(see also
Chambered Nautilus
)
Crocodilian
s
Certain
shark
s, most particularly the
megamouth
Equisetum
Monkey-tailed tree
,
Araucaria araucana
While it is
great fun
to imagine these species as being present during the time of the
dinosaur
s and even earlier, the term living fossil is considered by many
biologist
s to be s
ensational
ist and perhaps a little dangerous. The problem is the term leads people (particularly
creationist
s) to think that these species are
evidence against the theory of evolution
. It is important to remember that while these species have remained
morphologically
unchanged over millions of years, this is not only concordant with by also predicted by the
theory of evolution
. If a species lives is a successful competitor (example:
crocodilian
s) and has access to refuges during c
atastrophic
events, then the species may not go
extict
over very long periods of time.
printable version
chaos
Megamouth shark
coelacanth
Evolution is iterative feedback against the Second Law of Thermodynamics, motherfucker
Chambered Nautilus
Horseshoe crab
Tuatara
I find evolution to be a woefully inadequate theory until it can explain the following:
Platypus
Ginkgo Biloba
Wollemi pine
Bowfin
Equisetum
Spiny Anteater
Nautilus
blind dolphins
Crocodilian
Mantophasmatodea
taphonomic
Dracula ant
Homologous
Nightcap
Metasequoia
wetapunga
Duck-billed
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