it is in fresh water that we find seven genera of Ganoid fishes, remnants of a once preponderant order: and in fresh water we find some of the most anomalous forms now known in the world, as the Ornithorhynchus and Lepidosiren, which, like fossils, connect to a certain extent orders now widely separated in the natural scale. These anomalous forms may almost be called living fossils; they have endured to the present day, from having inhabited a confined area, and from having thus been exposed to less severe competition.
Result of Your Query
living fossillebendes Fossil (ger.)
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A plant or animal that has survived the extinction of others of its group. (OED 2012)
- 1859
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Darwin, C. (1859). On the Origin of Species: 107.
- 1859
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Species and groups of species, which are called aberrant, and which may fancifully be called living fossils, will aid us in forming a picture of the ancient forms of life.
Darwin, C. (1859). On the Origin of Species: 486.
- 1961
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Der merkwürdige Lepidosiren oder Schuppenmolch in Afrika und Südamerika, ein Mittelding zwischen Fisch und Amphibium, welches gewissermaßen als ein lebendes Fossil aus grauer Vorzeit, wo die einzelnen Gattungscharaktere noch nicht so fest unterschieden waren, wie heute, in die Jetztwelt hineinragt, athmet das ganze Leben hindurch mit Kiemen und Lungen gleichzeitig.
Büchner, L. (1861). Physiologische Bilder, vol. 1: 395.