- Zombie taxon
In
paleontology , a Zombie taxon (plural "Zombie taxa") or the Zombie effect [Citation | last = Archibald | first = David | title = Zombie Origins | journal =New Scientist | volume = 2596 | pages = 27 | date = 2007-03-24| url=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19325961.300-zombie-origins.html|accessdate=2008-07-17 ] is a colloqialism ofLazarus taxon because the species in question has been misinterpreted as having existed after its presumedextinction . It is actually belonging to or descended from the original, older taxon, but the fossil records for its discovery were subject to further scrutiny. [ cite web |title=Panerozoic Patterns |publisher=University of Missouri |url=http://web.missouri.edu/~macleodk/paleo5-40h%20panerozoic%20patterns.pdf |accessdate=2008-07-17 ] [ cite web |last=Wignall |first=Paul |title=The Day The World Nearly Died |publisher="New Scientist " |date=1992-01-25 |url=http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg13318055.400-the-day-the-world-nearly-died-250-million-years-ago-athriving-diverse-ecosystem-became-a-stagnant-world-threequarters-of-thespecies-alive-seemed-to-have-died-by-suffocation.html |accessdate=2008-07-17 ]An example of a Zombie taxon is a discovered fossil such as a dinosaur tooth that is washed out of sediments and re-deposited in rocks and/or sediments millions of years younger. This basic error in the interpretation of the age of the fossil leads to its title. [cite book |title= The Dinosauria |last=Weishampel |first=David B. |authorlink=David B. Weishampel |coauthors=Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka |year=2004 |publisher=
University of California Press |isbn=0520242092 |pages=679 [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=k44DMUXBqM0C&pg=PA679&lpg=PA679&dq=%22Zombie+taxa%22&source=web&ots=JcY8G0riWm&sig=HbTc_x40ZRr-apWdVp4Hkh2SdF4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result Google Book Search link] . Retrieved on2008-07-17 .] The discovered fossil was at some point mobile (or "walking") while the original animal or plant had long been dead. When this occurs the fossil is described as "reworked". [cite book |title= Dinosaur Extinction and the End of An Era |last=Archibald |first=J. David |coauthors=Fastovsky, David E. |year=1996 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0231076258 |pages=672-684 [http://www.bio.sdsu.edu/faculty/archibald.html/ArchFast.pdf Chapter link] . Retrieved on2008-07-17 .]ee also
*
Convergent evolution
*Extinction
*Elvis taxon
*Lazarus taxon
*Living fossil Further Reading
* Weishampel, David B. et al (2004). "The Dinosauria". University of California Press. ISBN 0520242092.
*Archibald, J. David; Fastovsky, David E. (1996). Dinosaur Extinction and the End of An Era. Columbia University Press, 672-684. ISBN 0231076258.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
