In
paleontology, a Lazarus taxon (plural taxa) is a
taxon that disappears from one or more periods of the
fossil record, only to appear again later. The term refers to the
New Testament story of
Lazarus, in which it is claimed that
Jesus miraculously raised Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus taxa are
observational artifacts that appear to occur either because of (local)
extinction, later resupplied, or as a
sampling artifact. If the extinction is conclusively found to be total (global or worldwide) and the supplanting species is not a lookalike (an
Elvis species), the observational artifact is overcome. The
fossil record is inherently imperfect (only a very small fraction of organisms become fossilized) and contains gaps not necessarily caused by extinction, particularly when the number of individuals in a taxon becomes very low. If these gaps are filled by new fossil discoveries, a taxon will no longer be classified as a Lazarus taxon.
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