For more than a century, the fossilized skull of an ancient fish was misidentified as a primate
For more than a century, the fossilized skull of an ancient fish was misidentified as a primate
By Sid Perkins
Web edition: November 26, 2012
Scientists mistakenly thought for decades that this skull (viewed from above, teeth at top of image) came from a mammal. The extinct creature, recently renamed Leporinus scalabrinii, was in fact an ancient fish that lived in South America.
Credit: Sergio Bogan
Ever make a big error on your homework? A really embarrassing one? Don?t worry. Even well-trained scientists can make a whopper of a mistake now and again.
In the 1890s, paleontologist Florentino Ameghino began studying a small fossil skull that had been given to him by a local collector in Argentina. At first glance, the broad, chisel-like teeth at the front of the skull ? the only part?not covered with rock ? looked like those belonging to lemurs. A distant relative of apes and monkeys, lemurs are a type of mammal that now lives only on the island off the eastern coast of Africa.
But new research now shows Ameghino erred. Big time!
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Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/346664/title/FOR_KIDS_A_fishy_mammal_ID
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