Incubator escapee wiki

Lazarus taxon

Article Discussion

Template:Short description Template:For Template:More citations needed

Template:Use dmy dates

File:Takahe and chick.jpg
The takahē of New Zealand had not been seen since 1898 when it was rediscovered in 1948.

In paleontology, a Lazarus taxon (plural taxa) is a taxon that disappears for one or more periods from the fossil record, only to appear again either in later fossil records, or as actual living organisms, and often in isolated, obscure, or otherwise very specialized habitats. Likewise in conservation biology and ecology, it can refer to species or populations that were mistakenly thought to be extinct, and are rediscovered to be still living.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The term Lazarus taxon was coined by Karl W. Flessa and David Jablonski in 1983 and was then expanded by Jablonski in 1986.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Paul Wignall and Michael Benton defined Lazarus taxa as, "At times of biotic crisis many taxa go extinct, but others only temporarily disappeared from the fossil record, often for intervals measured in millions of years, before reappearing unchanged".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Earlier work also supports the concept though without using the name Lazarus taxon, like work by Christopher R. C. Paul.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The term refers to the story in the Christian biblical Gospel of John, in which Jesus Christ raised Lazarus from the dead.

Potential explanationsEdit

Lazarus taxa are observational artifacts that appear to occur either because of (local) extinction, later resupplied, or as a sampling artifact. The fossil record is inherently sporadic (only a very small fraction of organisms become fossilized, and an even smaller fraction are discovered before destruction) and contains gaps not necessarily caused by extinction, particularly when the number of individuals in a taxon is very low.

After mass extinctions, such as the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the Lazarus effect occurred for many taxa. However, there appears to be no link with the abundance of fossiliferous sites and the proportion of Lazarus taxa, and no missing taxa have been found in potential refuges. Therefore, reappearance of Lazarus taxa probably reflects the rebound after a period of extreme rarity during the aftermath of such extinctions.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Related but distinct conceptsEdit

File:Fossil record gaps - animals with hard body parts.svg
Lazarus taxa and other ghost lineages reflect the sporadic nature of the fossil record.

An Elvis taxon is a look-alike that has supplanted an extinct taxon through convergent evolution.

A zombie taxon is a taxon that contains specimens that have been collected from strata younger than the extinction of the taxon. Later such fossils turn out to be freed from the original seam and refossilized in a younger sediment. For example, a trilobite that gets eroded out of its Cambrian-aged limestone matrix, and reworked into Miocene-aged siltstone.

A ghost lineage is a pronounced gap in time for the fossil record of a group, indicating that the group continued evolving throughout the gap, without direct fossil evidence from within the gap. Lazarus taxa are a type of ghost lineage where extinction was originally assumed to occur within the gap, only for younger fossils or surviving members of the group to indicate otherwise.

A living fossil is an extant taxon that appears to have changed so little compared with fossil remains, that it is considered identical. Living fossils may occur regularly in the fossil record, such as the lampshell Lingula, though the living species in this genus are not identical to fossil brachiopods.<ref name='Emig'>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Other living fossils however are also Lazarus taxa if these have been missing from the fossil record for substantial periods of time, such as applies for coelacanths.

In paleovirology, divergent clades of genomic elements from presumably extinct viruses are often known only from host genomes. However, in some cases extant viruses have later been associated with these "fossil" elements, indicating Lazarus-like taxa. For example, a clade of paleoviruses from presumed extinct filoviruses found in shrews was later found to contain an extant filovirus (Tapajós virus, TAPV).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Finally, the term "Lazarus species" is applied to organisms that have been rediscovered as being still alive after having been widely considered extinct for years, without ever having appeared in the fossil record. In this last case, the term Lazarus taxon is applied in neontology.

Reappearing fossil taxaEdit

From Quaternary (2.6 to 0 million years ago)Edit

File:Catagonus wagneri 1 - Phoenix Zoo.jpg
Chacoan peccary
  • Bush dog (Speothos venaticus), last surviving species of the genus Speothos; first described as an extinct taxon in 1842 by Peter Wilhelm Lund, based on fossils uncovered from Brazilian caves; Lund found and described living specimens in 1843 without realizing they were of the same species as the fossils, dubbing the living bush dogs as members of the genus "Icticyon"; this was not corrected until some time in the 20th century.<ref>Template:YouTube. Ben G Thomas. 25 February 2018; 0:32</ref>
  • Chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri), last surviving species of the genus Catagonus; believed to be the closest living relative to the extinct genus Platygonus. First described as extinct in 1930 as fossils; live specimens found in 1974.<ref name='Naish'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • False killer whale, first described by the British paleontologist and biologist Richard Owen based on a skull discovered in 1843 found in Stamford, Lincolnshire in England and dated to the Middle Pleistocene around 126,000 years ago. The first carcasses washed up on the shores of Kiel Bay in Denmark in 1861; until this point the species was thought to be extinct.
  • Bulmer's fruit bat (Aproteles bulmerae), originally described from a Pleistocene garbage pile, it was subsequently discovered alive elsewhere in its native New Guinea.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • The arboreal chinchilla rats (Cuscomys spp.), which were originally described based on a single species (Cuscomys oblativus) known only from archaeological remains discovered in ancient Inca tombs described in 1912 and believed to be extinct for almost a century. A second species (Cuscomys ashaninka) was discovered alive in Peru in 1999, and photographs taken at Machu Picchu in 2009 suggest that C. oblativus is still alive as well.
  • Majorcan midwife toad (Alytes muletensis), in the family Alytidae, described from fossil remains in 1977, discovered alive in 1979.
  • Cymatioa cookae,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> a small bivalve mollusk of family Galeommatidae; originally documented in 1937 from Pleistocene fossil specimens near Los Angeles, then living specimens discovered in 2018 on the coast of Santa Barbara.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

From Neogene (23 to 2.6 million years ago)Edit

File:Monito del Monte ps6.jpg
Monito del monte

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> were recognized in 2000 and 1995,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> respectively.

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Monito del monte (Dromiciops), sole surviving member of the order Microbiotheria; first described in 1894, thought to have gone extinct 11 million years ago.
  • Submyotodon, a genus of bat originally known from a single fossil species (S. petersbuchensis) described in 2003 from the Miocene of Germany, about 11 to 16 million years ago. In 2015, a phylogenetic analysis of bats from Taiwan and China found three species previously classified in Myotis (M. caliginosus, M. latirostris, and M. moupinensis) to be wholly distinct from any other member of Myotis, and instead more closely allied to the fossil Submyotodon, and thus reclassified them in Submyotodon, making the genus extant once more.<ref name="Ziegler 2003">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Ruedi 2015">Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Dawn redwood (Metasequoia), a genus of conifer, described as a fossil in 1941, rediscovered alive in 1944.
  • Wollemi pine (Wollemia), a genus of coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae; previously known only from fossils from 2 to 90 million years ago, rediscovered in 1994.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

From Paleogene (66 to 23 million years ago)Edit

  • Lignobrycon, a characiform fish from southern Brazil, was originally described from well-preserved fossil remains from the late Oligocene in 1929. In 1998, the extant fish "Moojenichthys" myersi, described in 1956, was identified as belonging to the same genus as the fossil Lignobrycon.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

From Cretaceous (145 to 66 million years ago)Edit

File:Latimeria chalumnae01.jpg
Coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae
  • Coelacanth (Latimeria), a member of a subclass (Actinistia) thought to have gone extinct 66 million years ago; live specimens found in 1938.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Alavesia, a genus of Atelestid fly, originally discovered as a fossil in amber over 100 million years old in 1999, living species found in Namibia in 2010.

From Devonian (419 to 359 million years ago)Edit

File:Neopilina.jpg
Monoplacophora

From Cambrian (539 to 485 million years ago)Edit

Reappearing IUCN red list speciesEdit

PlantsEdit

File:500 x 300 Ramosmania rodriguesii (Rubiaceae).jpg
Café marron

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

CultivarsEdit

  • Judean date palm, a distinct cultivar of date palm that disappeared around the 14th century, seeds dated from between 155 BC to 64 AD were found in the 1960s and were replanted in 2005.
  • Montreal melon, a common commercial plant in the 19th century that disappeared in the 1920s but was rediscovered after a couple of generations in a seed bank in 1996, replanted in 2024.

FungiEdit

  • Big puma fungus (Austroomphaliaster nahuelbutensis), seen once in the wild in Chile in the 1980s, rediscovered in 2023.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

SpongesEdit

AnnelidsEdit

InsectsEdit

File:Lord Howe Island stick insect Dryococelus australis 10June2011 PalmNursery.jpg
Lord Howe Island stick insect
  • Canterbury knobbed weevil (Hadramphus tuberculatus), in the family Curculionidae; first discovered in 1877, last seen in 1922 until it was rediscovered in 2004.
  • The cloaked bee (Pharohylaeus lactiferus); a bee in the subfamily Hylaeinae which had not been found since 1923 and was rediscovered in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Lestes patricia, a species of damselfly discovered in 1924. Only a single male specimen was collected during the discovery. The species was left unseen until 2020 where a colony of them was rediscovered.
  • Megachile pluto, the world's largest bee. Not seen after 1858, when it was first collected, until it was rediscovered in 1981.<ref name="messer">Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Dinosaur ant (Nothomyrmecia macrops), a rare genus of ants consisting of a single species, discovered in 1931, not seen again until 1977.
  • Petasida ephippigera, a species of grasshopper in the family Pyrgomorphidae; thought to be extinct from 1900 until 1971, when a single male specimen was spotted, followed by a breeding pair shortly afterwards.
  • Schizodactylus inexspectatus, a dune-inhabiting cricket from Turkey, known from a single specimen seen in 1901 and presumed extinct until it was found again in 2005.
  • Bone skipper fly (Thyreophora cynophila), in the family Piophilidae; first described (1794) and last seen in Central Europe (1850), before being photographed in Spain in 2009.<ref>Miguel Carles-Tolrá, Pablo C. Rodríguez & Julio Verdú (2010). "Thyreophora cynophila (Panzer, 1794): collected in Spain 160 years after it was thought to be extinct (Diptera: Piophilidae: Thyreophorini)". Boletín de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (S.E.A.) 46: 1–7.</ref>
  • Pitt Island longhorn beetle (Xylotoles costatus), is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae; last seen on Pitt Island in 1910, and found again on a nearby island in the Chatham Islands in 1987.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

CrustaceansEdit

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ArachnidsEdit

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

FishEdit

SharkEdit

AmphibiansEdit

File:Atelopus nahumae.jpg
Atelopus nahumae
  • Armoured frog (Litoria lorica), a species of frog in the family Hylidae; first discovered in 1976, until its rediscovery in 2008.
  • Ansonia latidisca (Sambas stream toad, Borneo rainbow toad) in the family Bufonidae; first discovered in 1924, until its rediscovery in 2011.
  • Starry night toad (Atelopus arsyecue), not seen for over 30 years until rediscovery in 2019.
  • Painted frog (Atelopus ebenoides marinkellei), a species of true toad in the family Bufonidae, believed to be extinct since 1995, until it was rediscovered in 2006.
  • Atelopus ignescens (Jambato toad, Quito stubfoot toad), a species of toad in the family Bufonidae; thought to be extinct since its last recorded sighting in 1988, until its rediscovery in 2016.<ref name='MongabayLATAM'/>
  • Atelopus laetissimus, a species of toad in the family Bufonidae.
  • Atelopus longirostris
  • Mindo harlequin toad (Atelopus mindoensis)
  • San Lorenzo harlequin toad (Atelopus nahumae), a species of toad in the family Bufonidae.
  • Atelopus varius a toad endemic to the Talamancan montane forests, between Costa Rica and Panama.<ref name='MongabayLATAM'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Booroolong frog (Ranoidea booroolongensis)
  • Hula painted frog (Discoglossus nigriventer), the only living member of the genus Latonia; thought to be extinct in the 1950s, until it was rediscovered in 2011.
  • American cinchona plantation treefrog (Isthmohyla rivularis), a rare species of frog in the family Hylidae; thought to have become extinct, until its rediscovery in 2007.
  • Bolivian Cochran frog (Nymphargus bejaranoi), not seen for over 18 years until its rediscovery in early 2020.
  • Black jumping salamander (Ixalotriton niger), a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae; believed to be extinct, until rediscovered in 2000 and again in 2006 and 2007.
  • Confusing rocket frog (Ectopoglossus confusus), thought to be extinct in 1989 until it was rediscovered in 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

MammalsEdit

File:GilbertsPotoroo.JPG
Gilbert's potoroo
  • Attenborough's long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi), echidna species found in Cyclops Mountains of Papua New Guinea; formerly last seen in 1962 and believed to be possibly extinct, until it was recorded again in November 2023.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Bavarian pine vole (Microtus bavaricus), is a vole in the family Cricetidae; believed extinct in the 1960s, until it was rediscovered in 2000.
  • Black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), a North American species presumed extinct in 1979 until it was rediscovered in 1981. A captive breeding program of the discovered ferrets successfully reintroduced the species into the wild.
  • Brazilian arboreal mouse (Rhagomys rufescens), a South American rodent species of the family Cricetidae; first described in 1886, was believed to be extinct for over one hundred years.
  • Bouvier's red colobus (Piliocolobus bouvieri), a species of colobus monkey rediscovered in 2015.
  • Onychogalea fraenata (Bridled nail-tail wallaby, bridled nail-tailed wallaby, bridled nailtail wallaby, bridled wallaby, merrin or flashjack), a vulnerable species of macropod; thought to be extinct since the last confirmed sighting in 1937, but rediscovered in 1973.
  • Caspian horse (Equus ferus caballus), previously only known from remains dating back to 3400 BC and Persian art, rediscovered in 1965.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

  • Zyzomys pedunculatus (known by a variety of names, including central rock rat, central thick-tailed rock-rat, Macdonnell Range rock-rat, Australian native mouse, rat à grosse queue or rata coligorda), a single species of rodent in the family Muridae; thought to be extinct in 1990 and 1994, until a reappearance in 2001 and in 2002, then the species went unrecorded until 2013.
  • Cuban solenodon (Atopogale cubana), thought to have been extinct until a live specimen was found in 2003.
  • De Winton's golden mole (Cryptochloris wintoni), last seen in western South Africa in 1937 until being rediscovered in 2023.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ReptilesEdit

File:Heosemys-depressa.jpg
Arakan forest turtle

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

BirdsEdit

File:Otidiphaps nobilis insularis.jpg
Black-naped pheasant pigeon, also known as Auwo

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

MolluscsEdit

DiscussionsEdit

Because its definition is ambiguous, some, like R. B. Rickards and A. J. Wright, reject the very concept of the Lazarus taxon. Rickards and Wright have questioned the usefulness of the concept, writing in "Lazarus taxa, refugia and relict faunas: evidence from graptolites" that anyone could argue that any gap in the fossil record could potentially be considered a Lazarus effect because the duration required for the Lazarus effect is not defined.<ref name="RICKARDS 1–4">Template:Cite journal</ref> They have argued that accurate plotting of biodiversity changes and species abundance through time, coupled with an appraisal of their palaeobiogeography, is more important than using this title to categorize species.<ref name="RICKARDS 1–4"/>

Communication and educationEdit

The lack of public engagement around environmental issues has led conservationists to attempt newer communication strategies. One of them is the focus on positive messages, of which Lazarus species are an important part.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> One conservation outreach project that has focused exclusively on species rediscoveries is the Lost & Found project which aims to tell the stories of species once thought extinct but that were subsequently rediscovered.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

Template:Extinction

Retrieved from "https://zalansite.site/mediawiki/index.php?title=Lazarus_taxon&oldid=494696"