Zombie taxon explained

In paleontology, a zombie taxon^{[1] [2]} (plural zombie taxa) or the zombie effect refers to a fossil that was washed out of sediments and re-deposited in rocks and/or sediments millions of years younger.^[3] That basic mistake in the interpretation of the age of the fossil leads to its title,^[4] in that the discovered fossil was at some point mobile (or "walking") despite the original organism having been long dead. When that occurs, the fossil is described as a "reworked fossil".

See also

• Convergent evolution
• Dead clade walking
• Extinction
• Elvis taxon
• Lazarus taxon
• Living fossil

Further reading

• Archibald, J. David. (1996). Dinosaur Extinction and the End of An Era. Columbia University Press, 672-684., who defined the terms zombie effect and zombie taxon/taxa.
• Weishampel, David B. et al. (2004). The Dinosauria. University of California Press. .
• Abigail Lane et al. "Estimating paleodiversities: a test of the taxic and phylogenetic methods".

Notes and References

1. Book: Archibald, J. David . Dinosaur Extinction and the End of An Era . 1996 . . 0-231-07625-8. . Retrieved on 2008-07-17.
2. Lane. Abigail. Christine M. . Janis . J. John . Sepkoski, Jr.. Estimating paleodiversities: a test of the taxic and phylogenetic methods. Paleobiology. January 2005. 31. 1. 21–34. 10.1666/0094-8373(2005)031<0021:EPATOT>2.0.CO;2. 85808129 .
3. Archibald . David . Zombie Origins . . 193 . 27 . 2007-03-24 . 2596 . 2008-07-17 . 10.1016/s0262-4079(07)60736-2 . 2020-04-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200401033719/https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19325961.300-zombie-origins.html . live .
4. Book: Weishampel, David B. . The Dinosauria . David B. Weishampel . Dodson, Peter . Osmólska, Halszka . 2004 . . 0-520-24209-2 . 679 . 2008-07-17 .