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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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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.
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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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