Contact: Margaret Allen
mallen@smu.edu
214-768-7664
Southern Methodist University

100 Million-year-old Texas Fossil Is New Coelacanth Species

Caption: A fossil discovered in Texas is a new species of coelacanth fish. Paleontologist John Graf, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, identified the skull as a 100 million-year-old coelacanth, making it the youngest discovered in Texas. The new species, Reidus hilli, brings to 81 the world's coelacanth species, including two alive today. Coelacanth fish have eluded extinction for 400 million years. Reidus hilli belongs to Dipluridae, a new family Graf determined is transitional between Mawsoniidae and Latimeriidae families. See http://bit.ly/RvSNCj.

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