page_title: Lazarus taxon
section_title: Reappearing fossil taxa
hierarchical_section_title: Lazarus taxon / Reappearing fossil taxa
caption_attribution_description: Species&#160; Latimeria chalumnae (West Indian Ocean coelacanth) Family&#160; Latimeriidae Source&#160; own photo at the Zoo of Antwerp, Belgium (the background has been blurred)
context_page_description: In paleontology, a Lazarus taxon is a taxon that disappears for one or more periods from the fossil record, only to appear again later. Likewise in conservation biology and ecology, it can refer to species or populations that were thought to be extinct, and are rediscovered. The term Lazarus taxon was coined by Karl W. Flessa & David Jablonski in 1983 and was then expanded by Jablonski in 1986. Wignall and 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'. Earlier work also supports the concept though without using the name Lazarus taxon, like work by Christopher R. C. Paul.
  The term refers to the story in the Christian biblical Gospel of John, in which Jesus Christ raised Lazarus from the dead.
context_section_description: 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.
  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.
  Coelacanth (Latimeria), a member of a subclass (Actinistia) thought to have gone extinct 66 million years ago; live specimens found in 1938.
  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.
  Nightcap oak (Eidothea hardeniana and Eidothea zoexylocarya), representing a genus previously known only from fossils 15 to 20 million years old, were recognized in 2000 and 1995, respectively.
  Gracilidris, a genus of dolichoderine ants thought to have gone extinct 15–20 million years ago was found in Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina and redescribed in 2006.
  Laotian rock rat (Laonastes aenigmamus), a member of a family (Diatomyidae) thought to have gone extinct 11 million years ago; found in 1996.
  Majorcan midwife toad (Alytes muletensis), in the family Alytidae, described from fossil remains in 1977, discovered alive in 1979.
  Dawn redwood (Metasequoia), a genus of conifer, described as a fossil in 1941, rediscovered alive in 1944.
  Monito del monte (Dromiciops), sole surviving member of the order Microbiotheria; first described in 1894, thought to have gone extinct 11 million years ago.
  Bulmer's fruit bat (Aproteles bulmerae), originally described from a Pleistocene garbage pile, it was subsequently discovered alive elsewhere in its native New Guinea.
  Monoplacophora, a class of molluscs believed to have gone extinct in the middle Devonian Period (c. 380 million years ago) until living members were discovered in deep water off Costa Rica in 1952.
  Mountain pygmy possum (Burramys parvus), first discovered in the fossil record in 1895; rediscovered alive in 1966.
  Schinderhannes bartelsi, a Devonian member of the family Anomalocarididae, previously known only from Cambrian fossils, 100 million years earlier.
  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.
  Calliostoma bullatum, a species of deepwater sea snail; originally described in 1844 from fossil specimens in deep-water coral-related sediments from southern Italy, until extant individuals were described in 2019 from deep-water coral reefs off the coast of Mauritania.
caption: Coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae
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