Zombie taxon

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".

Jurassic ammonite internal mold redeposited (and bored) in a Cretaceous sediment, thus a zombie taxon or remanié; Faringdon Sponge Gravel, England.

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. ISBN 0-231-07625-8, who defined the terms zombie effect and zombie taxon/taxa.
• Weishampel, David B. et al. (2004). The Dinosauria. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
• Abigail Lane et al. "Estimating paleodiversities: a test of the taxic and phylogenetic methods".