Living fossils

A potential problem for those who think that the Earth is millions of years old! If you assume that evolution is operating and natural selection is at work then it must be a difficulty that quite a few creatures and plants are exactly the same now as their fossils.

Plants

Amborellaceae
Araucaria araucana the Monkey Puzzle tree
Cycads
Ginkgo tree (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis)
Horsetails Equisetum (Equisetaceae)
Metasequoia Dawn Redwood (Cupressaceae)
Sciadopitys tree (Sciadopityaceae)
Whisk ferns Psilotum (Psilotaceae)
Welwitschia (Welwitschiaceae)
Wollemia tree (Araucariaceae)
Fungi
Neolecta

Animals

Aardvark (Orycteropus afer)
Cypriot mouse (Mus cypriacus)
Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens)
Okapi (Okapia johnstoni)
Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)
Laotian Rock Rat (Laonastes aenigmamus)
Volcano rabbit (Romerolagus diazi)
Amami rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi)
Iriomote cat (Prionailurus iriomotensis)
Monito del Monte (Dromiciops gliroides)
monotremes (the platypus and echidna)
Mountain Beaver (Aplodontia rufa)
Opossums
Acanthisittidae (New Zealand "wrens")
Hoatzin(Ophisthocomus hoazin)
Broad-billed Sapayoa (Sapayoa aenigma)
Bearded Reedling (Panurus biarmicus)
Coliiformes (mousebirds, 6 living species in 2 genera)
Magpie-goose (Anseranas semipalmata)

Reptiles

Pig-nosed turtle
Crocodilia (crocodiles, gavials and alligators)
Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus and Sphenodon guntheri)

Amphibians

Purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis)
Bony fish
Bowfin (Amia calva)
Coelacanth (the lobed-finned Latimeria menadoensis and Latimeria chalumnae)
Queensland lungfish (Neoceratodus fosteri)
Sturgeons and paddlefish (Acipenseriformes) Sharks Frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus)

Insects

Mantophasmatodea (gladiators; a few living species)
Mymarommatid wasps (10 living species in genus Palaeomymar)
Nevrorthidae (3 species-poor genera)
Notiothauma reedi (a scorpionfly relative)
Orussidae (parasitic wood wasps; about 70 living species in 16 genera)
Peloridiidae (peloridiid bugs; fewer than 30 living species in 13 genera)
Sikhotealinia zhiltzovae (a jurodid beetle)
Syntexis libocedrii (Anaxyelidae cedar wood wasp)

Crustaceans

glypheoid lobsters (3 living species: Neoglyphea inopinata, N. neocaledonica, and Laurentaeglyphea neocaledonica)
Stomatopods (Mantis shrimp)
Triops cancriformis (also known as Tadpole shrimp) (a notostracid crustacean)
Molluscs
Nautilina (e.g. Nautilus pompilius)
Neopilina galateae, a monoplacophorid mollusc
Ennucula superba (Nut clam)

Other invertebrates

crinoids
Horseshoe crab (only 4 living species of the class Xiphosura, family Limulidae: Limulus polyphemus,Tachypleus gigas, Tachypleus tridentatus and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda)
Lingula anatina (an inarticulate brachiopod)
onychophorans
Valdiviathyris quenstedti (a craniforman brachiopod)

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