Living fossils

Coelacanth, Anteater, Gingko ...

A living fossil is understood to mean recent species that have already lived in similar form in another period of Earth history. The term "living fossil" in itself is misleading because the term assumes that living fossils have not undergone evolutionary development since their appearance. However, this is not the case, since even living fossils have permanently influenced evolutionary factors. In contrast to other species, however, the morphology has changed little, if not very little.

At first glance, living fossils are more of a proof that evolution is not happening. This particular form of the species groups is explained by the existence of extremely stable ecological niches that provide for constant environmental conditions (such as in the deep sea), so that species remained virtually unchanged over millions of years, because an adaptation from the perspective of stabilizing selection was not necessary.

The coelacanth

The first found fossilized coelacanths date back approximately 400 million years to the Devonian Era. Until its rediscovery in the late 40 'years, the coelacanth was even considered extinct. The particularity of living fossils is often that they combine characteristics of two different groups. In the case of the coelacanth, in addition to the typical characteristics of fish in the form of scales and gills, the presence of amphibious features, e.g. Walked over and a lung. This fact makes the coelacanth a bridgehead, thus proving the evolutionary evolution of species, so that it can be assumed that species have not developed alongside each other but apart.

If they had developed side by side, there would be no nodes, so no organisms would have the characteristics of two groups. But the existence of such bridge animals as the coelacanth (fish and amphibian), anteater (reptile and mammal) but also the archaeopterix (reptile and bird) prove an evolutionary evolution from the previous species.

Summary

Living fossils are extant species that have persisted for a long time in their morphological form

A stable ecological niche allows species to remain virtually unchanged over millions of years

Not infrequently, living fossils also represent bridgeheads that support the theory of evolution