Scientists find a mollusk that was considered extinct 40 thousand years ago

Scientist Jeff Goddard has found an animal in the state of California that had been considered extinct for 40 thousand years. This discovery could be of great importance for future research.

According to Grunge, the discovery turned out to be a bivalve creature that has a hinged shell with valves on the sides. When Goddard saw the mollusk, he realized that it was not a species he knew. The expert is a researcher at the Institute of Marine Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has been studying marine life for many years.

The scientist took a photo of the animal to show his colleague Paul Valentich-Scott, curator emeritus of malacology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. He was the one who studied the mollusks. But the expert in this field was also unable to recognize the animal that was found. It turned out to be a mollusk called cymatioa cooki, which was considered extinct 40 thousand years ago.

The last data about the animal was documented in 1937 by the specialist George Willett. In his works, he described the fossils found in Los Angeles. The scientist described the mollusk shell in great detail in his article, which allowed his modern colleagues to make the identification.

Goddard suggested how this species managed to hide from scientists for a long time. Since the coast of Southern California is well studied, the expert suggested that the mollusks are not indigenous to the region. In his opinion, they most likely live in the tidal zones of Baja California, which are covered with many boulders. In a few years, experts managed to find 4 specimens of animals called cymatioa cooki.

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