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A one - of - a - kind fossil thought for more than 100 years to be a lemur without a nose is not a primate at all , scientist have found . It ’s a Pisces .
Oops .
This is the lone fossil of a species known asArrhinolemur scalabrinii- or “Scalabrini’s lemur without a nose.” The only problem is that scientists have discovered this “lemur” is actually a fish.
A new analysis of the 2 - inch ( 5 - centimeter)-long fogy corrects an error first made in 1898 , when a fossil collector name Pedro Scalabrini sent the specimen to Argentine naturalist Florentino Ameghino . Apparently have an " off " day , Ameghino make the fossil a quick facial expression and separate it as Lemuridae , or part of thelemurfamily . He named itArrhinolemur scalabrinii , which translates to " Scalabrini ’s lemur without a nose . "
Ameghino noted that the hypothesise lemur dodo was odd , and suggested it be assign to a novel order ofbizarre mammals , which he suggest naming Arrhinolemuroidea .
Ameghino was a controversial figure in paleontology , say study researcher Brian Sidlauskas , an adjunct professor of fisheries at Oregon State University . Ameghino require to prove thatmammals originatedin South America ( they did n’t ) , so " he really wanted things to be mammals , " Sidlauskas told LiveScience .
Ameghino was also making his recognition ground on only bits of the fossil , which was still mostly encase in rock music when he saw it , Sidlauskas said . [ Image Gallery : off-the-wall Fish ]
Over time , the single fossil , which go steady back to between 6 million and 9 million years ago , rest the only example ofA. scalabriniiever found . About 50 years after Ameghino ’s mistake , American paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson suggested the fossil might not be a mammal , but a fish . The wheels of science continue their obtuse wonk in 1986 , when another scientist named Alvaro Mones indicate the potential fish family might be Characidae , a group that includes popular aquarium Pisces such as tetras .
But no one had ever done a full taxonomic employment - up on the fossil . Two years ago , Argentinian scientist Sergio Bogan and Federico Agnolin decided to change that . They contacted Sidlauskas , who had research South American fishes during his doctoral work , along with Smithsonian ichthyologist Richard Vari . This dreaming squad of Pisces the Fishes experts did a complete examination of photos of the fossil .
They reason that no one had ever got this " noseless lemur " quite correct . In fact , Sidlauskas said , the fogey isa fishfrom the Anostomidae family , a chemical group of South American fresh water Pisces .
The fish is of the genusLeporinus , another cue to the misidentification , Sidlauskas said : Pisces of this form have somewhat mammal - alike teeth , of the kind that might be found on a rabbit .
Today , between 90 and 100 specie ofLeporinusswim in South American lakes and rivers , Sidlauskas say . The fossil seems to be of an extinct mixture
Understanding how the Pisces fogey conform to into history helps researchersdate the biodiversityof South American Pisces , one of the richest groups of Pisces fauna on the satellite , Sidlauskas said .
" It differentiate us something about biodiversity in the yesteryear , so now we jazz that 6 to 9 million years ago , a fish very much like the ones we have today was in that station and prison term , " he say .
Sidlauskas and his colleages account their findings in the daybook Neotropical Ichthyology .
