Meanings of live fossils in English

Lazarus taxa are commonly called living fossils too (for better or worse).

Lungfish may be living fossils, but they are still not very like our ancestors.

Sometimes these animals are called " living fossils," but it's not a good term.

It is one of the most instructive " living fossils" in the museum of nature.

Why on earth are they called living fossils?

Modern giant salamanders are often called " living fossils", as they are still so similar to their ancient relatives.

Pepketua have evolved very little since Gondwanaland, having few natural predators to avoid, and are so-called ' living fossils' from another time.

In a paper on rates of evolution, palaeontologist Thomas Schopf reviewed the problem of " living fossils" in scientific publishing.

Other species are like living fossils, almost identical to plants and animals that are now extinct in the rest of the world.

Crocodiles and snapping turtles are often called living fossils, more on the basis that they look "prehistoric" than any scientific grounds.

Great thanks are due to M. Bierstadt for the almost herculean labors he must have undergone in presenting to us these living fossils.

In fact, since living fossils also (by traditional depiction) present such a "primitive" or "archaic" look, the claim for optimality seemed specially puzzling.