living fossil
nounEtymology
The term was coined by the English biologist, geologist, and naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) in his work On the Origin of Species (1859): see the quotation below.
- derived from biologist
Definitions
Any species discovered first as a fossil and believed extinct, but which is later found…
Any species discovered first as a fossil and believed extinct, but which is later found living; an organism that has remained unchanged over geological periods.
- The coelacanth and the dawn redwood are living fossils.
Any living species which very closely resembles fossil relatives in most anatomical…
Any living species which very closely resembles fossil relatives in most anatomical details.
- Crocodiles are living fossils that haven’t changed their appearance much in millions of years.
- There are four living families of Anaspidacea, but only the Anaspididae are of interest in the context of "living fossils" since they bear the closest resemblance to the extinct Palaeocaridacea.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for living fossil. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA