"Lazarus species"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 05:30:53 -0800, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>2005 _Discover_ (Apr.) 70  "Paleontologists have documented a number of
>plants and animals that disappear at the end of the Permian, stay gone
>for millions of years, and re-emerge in the middle Triassic. They call
>these Lazarus species."
>
>Goes back to 1995 on Usenet.

"Lazarus effect" was coined by the paleobiologist David Jablonski in 1983
("Extinction is Here to Stay" _Paleobiology_ Vol. 9, No. 4, Autumn 1983,
p. 319). JSTOR has cites for "Lazarus taxa" from 1986 and "Lazarus
species" from 1988.

Coincidentally (or not?), Frank Herbert of _Dune_ fame coauthored a sci-fi
novel with Bill Ransom called _The Lazarus Effect_, also in 1983.


--Ben Zimmer