http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12875772/?GT1=8199
Shrimplike creature was thought to have gone extinct 60 million years ago
PARIS - French scientists who explored the Coral Sea said Friday they discovered a new species of crustacean that was thought to have become extinct 60 million years ago.
The "living fossil," a female designated Neoglyphea neocaledonica, was discovered 1,312 feet (400 meters) under water during an expedition in the Chesterfield Islands, northwest of New Caledonia, the National Museum of Natural History and the Research Institute for Development said in a statement.
Another so-called living fossil from the Neoglyphea group was discovered in 1908 in the Philippines by the U.S. Albatross, a research vessel. It remained unidentified until 1975, when two French scientists from the natural history museum identified and named it Neoglyphea inopinata. More of the creatures were then found in expeditions to the Philippines between 1976 and 1984.
In October, marine biologist Philippe Bouchet and Bertrand Richer De Forges found the new species of the same living fossil group while trolling an undersea plateau in a remote area between Australia and New Caledonia.
Bouchet, in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, described the nearly 5-inch (12-centimeter) creature as "halfway between a shrimp and a mud lobster." Its huge eyes, reddish spots and thickset body distinguished it from the 1908 crustacean.
The huge eyes suggest that light plays a role in the behavior of the creature, which could actively hunt prey, Bouchet said.
With the Coral Sea discovery, "the group is less completely extinct than was thought," he said.
Beyond the intrinsic value of the discovery, the marine biologist said he had been working in the region for two decades before coming across the elusive creature, underscoring that "there are places on this planet incredibly remote and little explored."
The discovery "conveys a message that, in the first years of the 21st century, the exploration of planet Earth is not over," Bouchet said.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11746910/
Rodent had been thought to have died out 11 million years ago
A few months after researchers on one team thought they had discovered a new family of rodent, another group snatched their glory by identifying the critter as a member of a family thought long extinct.
Last year scientists described the body of a squirrel-like rodent found for sale in a meat market in Laos. They believed it belonged to a previously undescribed family and named it Laonastes aenigmamus.
But they failed to fully inspect the fossil record. Upon closer analysis of the creature's teeth, a second group of researchers determined it was a member of the previously known rodent family Diatomyidae.
So a family thought to have died out 11 million years ago is still alive and kicking, the scientists report in the March 10 issue of the journal Science.
Back from the dead
The discovery is an example of what scientists call the "Lazarus effect," a situation when an animal known only through the fossil record is found living.
Perhaps the best known example of the Lazarus effect is the coelacanth, a lobe-finned fish discovered off the coast of South Africa that scientists thought died out at least 65 million years ago.
Most examples of the Lazarus effect in mammals, though, only go back 10,000 years or so.
"It is an amazing discovery and it's the coelacanth of rodents," said study coauthor Mary Dawson of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. "It's the first time in the study of mammals that scientists have found a living fossil of a group that's thought to be extinct for roughly 11 million years. That's quite a gap. Previous mammals had a gap of only a few thousand to just over a million years."
Laonastes is currently in the process of being officially reclassified in the Diatomyidae family.
Diatomyidae were squirrel-sized rodents that lived during the middle Tertiary period 34 million to 11 million years ago in southern Asia, central China, and Japan. They also had highly characteristic molar teeth and jaw structure, which is how the researchers reclassified Laonastes.
A recently discovered fossil of Laonastes matched the "living" specimen in skull shape and overall size. The only difference is that the "living" specimen's teeth are slightly more pointed.
"It looks like possibly one of the things that's been changing in family is improved cutting of vegetation," Dawson told LiveScience. "But over 11 million years you'd expect some differences in the structures."
Western scientists still haven't seen a living Laonastes specimen, which will be critical in conserving what may be a threatened species.
"Biologists need to get out there and find some living ones," Dawson said.
Finding living specimens and understanding how they live could be key to determining why the rodents moved from central Asia into the Indian subcontinent.
I've always been fascinated by the term "Living Fossil". I think most people know about the coelacanth, and the Horseshoe Crab as being living fossils, but rodents, and shrimp?
The whole thing has always fascinated me. So in anycase, what is your take on these living fossils, or on other ancient animals that existed during or before the Dinsoaur Era?
Discussion Tags(for those who need it):
Talk about dinosaurs.
What is your favorite dinosaur?
If you could have a dinosaur as a pet which one would it be?
What is your favorite living fossil?
What is your favorite dinosaur movie?
The whole thing has always fascinated me. So in anycase, what is your take on these living fossils, or on other ancient animals that existed during or before the Dinsoaur Era?
Discussion Tags(for those who need it):
Talk about dinosaurs.
What is your favorite dinosaur?
If you could have a dinosaur as a pet which one would it be?
What is your favorite living fossil?
What is your favorite dinosaur movie?
