That’s no primate: It’s a fish!

[cleanhippie]

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A seven million-year-old South American fossil from a species known as Arrhinolemur scalabrinii – which translates literally to “Scalabrini’s lemur without a nose” – has long been a curiosity because there is only one specimen in existence and it is unlike most other primates.

There is a reason for that, scientists have discovered. The lemur without a nose is actually a fish.

Classified as a mammal since it was first described in 1898, Arrhinolemur scalabrinii will at last take its rightful place among its piscatorial brethren following a detailed analysis by scientists from Argentina, Oregon State University and the Smithsonian Institution. Results of their analysis have just been published in the professional journal, Neotropical Ichthyology.

“The name given to the fossil back in 1898 should have given a clue that something was wrong,” said Brian Sidlauskas, a fisheries expert in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University and co-author of the study. “It isn’t unusual to see a species reassigned to a different genus, but you don’t often see one moved to an entirely different class.”

Here is the unusual tale of Arrhinolemur scalabrinii, or the lemur without a nose… (at the link)

http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2012/oct/that%E2%80%99s-no-primate-it%E2%80%99s-fish

[MADem]

1. I'd love to see one of those "artist's renderings" of the thing!

I did a little googling, and all I found so far were reproductions of that crappy little "fossil" pic.

Oh well--all things in time, I am sure!

[cleanhippie]

2. I'm sure something will come up.

[LongTomH]

3. Something like this?????

[cleanhippie]

4. Hahahahaha! Yes, just like that.

Well done!