Living fossil facts for kids
Living fossil refers to life forms which have survived with little change for a long time, and which are still around today.
- Horseshoe crabs are a typical case of living fossil. They have changed little in appearance since the Ordovician period, 450 million years ago.
- Crocodilians first appeared 220 million years ago, and are close relatives of the dinosaurs. However, modern crocodiles only date back to the Upper Cretaceous of 84 million years ago.
- Turtles are first known from 215 million years ago, but for some reason they are not often mentioned as living fossils.
- The Tuatara, from New Zealand, is the sole survivor of a whole order of reptiles, the Sphenodontia. 200 million years ago the group (sister to the lizards and snakes) was quite common.
- The Coelacanth is definitely a living fossil. It is the closest link between fish and the first amphibians (408–362 million years ago). The Coelacanth was thought to have been extinct for 80 million years until one was caught alive off the east African coast in 1938. It is therefore also a Lazarus taxon.
- The Ginkgo tree, Ginkgo biloba, is a good example from the world of plants. It is a gymnosperm. It was thought to be long extinct in the wild, but is now known to grow in at least two small areas in China. The first similar fossils date from the Permian period, 270 million years ago.
- Lingula, a brachiopod, is a genus which has lasted since the Ordovician, 488 million years ago. The modern species are almost the same as the first fossils.
Living fossils are not identical to their ancestors, of course. But they lived in the same or similar environments, and their adaptations suggest that their life-style was the same, or very similar.
Examples
Some of these are informally known as "living fossils".
Plants
- Pteridophytes
- Horsetails – Equisetum
- Lycopodiums
- Tree ferns
- Moss
- Gymnosperms
- Agathis - Agathis in Australia and the Pacific including Almasiga trees in the Philippines
- Araucaria araucana – the monkey puzzle tree (as well as other extant Araucaria species)
- Cycads
- Ginkgo tree (Ginkgoaceae)
- Metasequoia – dawn redwood (Cupressaceae; related to Sequoia and Sequoiadendron)
- Sciadopitys "Japanese umbrella pine"
- Taiwania cryptomerioides – one of the largest tree species in Asia.
- Wollemia tree (Araucariaceae – a borderline example, related to Agathis and Araucaria)
- Welwitschia
- Angiosperms
- Amborella – a plant from New Caledonia, possibly closest to base of the flowering plants
- Trapa - water caltrops, seeds, and leaves of numerous extinct species are known all the way back to the Cretaceous.
- Nelumbo - several species of lotus flower are known exclusively from fossils dating back to the Cretaceous.
Fungi
- Neolecta
Animals
- Vertebrates
- Mammals
- Aardvark (Orycteropus afer)
- Amami rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi)
- Chevrotain (Tragulidae)
- Elephant shrew (Macroscelidea)
- Laotian rock rat (Laonastes aenigmamus)
- Monito del monte (Dromiciops gliroides)
- Monotremes (the platypus and echidna)
- Mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa)
- Okapi (Okapia johnstoni)
- Opossums (Didelphidae)
- Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)
- Red panda (Ailurus fulgens)
- Solenodon (Solenodon cubanus and Solenodon paradoxus)
- Shrew opossum (Caenolestidae)
- False killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens)
- Pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata)
- Birds
- Pelicans (Pelecanus) – Morphology has been virtually unchanged since the Eocene, and is noted to have been even more conserved across the Cenozoic than that of crocodiles.
- Acanthisittidae (New Zealand "wrens") – 2 living species, a few more recently extinct. Distinct lineage of Passeriformes.
- Broad-billed sapayoa (Sapayoa aenigma) – One living species. Distinct lineage of Tyranni.
- Bearded reedling (Panurus biarmicus) – One living species. Distinct lineage of Passerida or Sylvioidea.
- Coliiformes (mousebirds) – 6 living species in 2 genera. Distinct lineage of Neoaves.
- Hoatzin (Ophisthocomus hoazin) – One living species. Distinct lineage of Neoaves.
- Magpie goose (Anseranas semipalmata) – One living species. Distinct lineage of Anseriformes.
- Seriema (Cariamidae) – 2 living species. Distinct lineage of Cariamae.
- Tinamiformes (tinamous) 50 living species. Distinct lineage of Palaeognathae.
- Reptiles
- Alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)
- Crocodilia (crocodiles, gavials, caimans and alligators)
- Pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta)
- Snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina)
- Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus and Sphenodon guntheri)
- Amphibians
- Giant salamanders (Cryptobranchus and Andrias)
- Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer)
- Purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis)
- Jawless fish
- Hagfish (Myxinidae) Family
- Bony fish
- Arowana and arapaima (Osteoglossidae)
- Bowfin (Amia calva)
- Coelacanth (the lobed-finned Latimeria menadoensis and Latimeria chalumnae)
- Gar (Lepisosteidae)
- Queensland lungfish (Neoceratodus fosteri)
- Sturgeons and paddlefish (Acipenseriformes)
- Bichir (Polypteridae) family
- Protanguilla palau
- Mudskipper (Oxudercinae)
- Sharks
- Blind shark (Brachaelurus waddi)
- Bullhead shark (Heterodontus sp.)
- Elephant shark (Callorhinchus milii)
- Frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus sp.)
- Goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni)
- Gulper shark (Centrophorus sp.)
- Invertebrates
- Insects
- Mantophasmatodea (gladiators; a few living species)
- Meropeidae (3 living species, 4 extinct)
- Micromalthus debilis (a beetle)
- Mymarommatid wasps (10 living species in genus Palaeomymar)
- Nevrorthidae (3 species-poor genera)
- Nothomyrmecia (known as the dinosaur ant)
- Notiothauma reedi (a scorpionfly relative)
- Orussidae (parasitic wood wasps; about 70 living species in 16 genera)
- Peloridiidae (peloridiid bugs; fewer than 30 living species in 13 genera)
- Sikhotealinia zhiltzovae (a jurodid beetle)
- Syntexis libocedrii (Anaxyelidae cedar wood wasp)
- Crustaceans
- Glypheoidea (2 living species: Neoglyphea inopinata and Laurentaeglyphea neocaledonica)
- Stomatopods (mantis shrimp)
- Triops cancriformis (also known as tadpole shrimp; a notostracan crustacean)
- Molluscs
- Other invertebrates
- Crinoids
- Horseshoe crabs (only 4 living species of the class Xiphosura, family Limulidae: Limulus polyphemus, Tachypleus gigas, Tachypleus tridentatus, and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda)
- Lingula anatina (an inarticulate brachiopod)
- Liphistiidae (trapdoor spiders)
- Onychophorans (velvet worms)
- Valdiviathyris quenstedti (a craniforman brachiopod)
- Paleodictyon nodosum (unknown)
Images for kids
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Elephant shrews resemble the extinct Leptictidium of Eocene Europe.
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Ferns were the dominant plant group in the Jurassic period, with some species, such as Osmunda claytoniana, maintaining evolutionary stasis for at least 180 million years.
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Echidnas are one of few mammals to lay eggs.
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Tuataras are reptiles, yet retain more primitive characteristics than lizards and snakes.
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The goblin shark is the only extant representative of the family Mitsukurinidae, a lineage some 125 million years old (early Cretaceous).
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Nautilus retain the external spiral shell that its other relatives have lost.
See also
In Spanish: Fósil viviente para niños