Living fossil found in South Pacific

December 10, 2006

A “Jurassic” shrimp, Neoglyphea neocaledonica, believed extinct for 50 million years, found in the Coral Sea. Credit: B. Richer de Forges ©2006.

French scientists found a species of crustacean previously believed to have become extinct 60 million years ago, according to an update from the Census of Marine Life.

Neoglyphea neocaledonica was discovered at a depth of 1,312 feet (400 meters) during an expedition in the Chesterfield Islands, northwest of New Caledonia in the South Pacific.

The Census of Marine Life (CoML), a research effort involving some 2000 researchers from 80 countries, aims to record the diversity, distribution, and abundance of global marine life.

This article is based on a news release from CoML.

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Rhett Butler Editor

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BiodiversityGreenNew SpeciesOceansSpecies Discovery

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