'Dead clades walking': Fossil record provides new insights into mass extinctions
Groups of animals that survive an event but never fully recover are more common and long-lasting than expected
Rafinesquina, seen in this close-up shot, was an ancient genus of brachiopod belonging to order Strophomenida. This order survived two mass extinction events, but the second represented a ‘death sentence’ from which they were unable to recover diversity, persisting for another hundred million years as a ‘dead clade walking’ before their eventual extinction.
Image: Provided by Benjamin Barnes
'Dead clades walking': Fossil record provides new insights into mass extinctions
Matthew Carroll