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living fossil
noun
- an organism that is a living example of an otherwise extinct group and that has remained virtually unchanged in structure and function over a long period of time, as the coelacanth and the horseshoe crab.
living fossil
noun
- an animal or plant, such as the coelacanth and ginkgo, belonging to a group most of whose members are extinct
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51³Ô¹Ï History and Origins
Origin of living fossil1
First recorded in 1920–25
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Example Sentences
Examples have not been reviewed.
The Ginkgo Biloba in Leiden, Netherlands, is a 240 year-old "living fossil" and the second oldest in Europe.
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A living fossil had been found, and botanists were excited.
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In 1859 Charles Darwin coined the term “living fossil†to describe lineages that have looked the same for tens of millions of years, such as the coelacanth, sturgeon, and horseshoe crab.
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"It's like finding a living fossil at the genetic level."
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Several of those compounds also trigger receptors in bony fish such as zebrafish and the “living fossil†coelacanth, and all of them taste bitter to humans.
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