Monday, October 30, 2006
Paleontology: Lampreys, The Supreme Survival Specialists
University of Chicago (USA), 29 October: A newly uncovered fossil fish has added a new chapter to the already impressive legend of lampreys. The discovery shows that the ancestors of these 'living fossils' developed their characteristic specialized body structures even longer ago than paleontologists had thought. The body forms have persisted for a staggering 360 million years, all the way up to the present.
The new fossil is the oldest lamprey-like fossil ever found, and is the earliest example of a lamprey having teeth, say Michael Coates and his colleagues, who announce the find in Nature.
The creature, found in an ancient estuary in Grahamstown, South Africa, boasted an impressive mouth- far bigger relative to its body size than those of modern lampreys. But in absolute terms, the new species was of just 4.2 centimeters long. Nonetheless, it is impressive, the authors note, that specialized structures such as teeth evolved so long ago and persisted almost unchanged in an evolutionary lineage
(ResearchSEA)
The new fossil is the oldest lamprey-like fossil ever found, and is the earliest example of a lamprey having teeth, say Michael Coates and his colleagues, who announce the find in Nature.
The creature, found in an ancient estuary in Grahamstown, South Africa, boasted an impressive mouth- far bigger relative to its body size than those of modern lampreys. But in absolute terms, the new species was of just 4.2 centimeters long. Nonetheless, it is impressive, the authors note, that specialized structures such as teeth evolved so long ago and persisted almost unchanged in an evolutionary lineage
(ResearchSEA)
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