Phrase guide

zombie taxon

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A taxon that falsely appears to persist until, or reappear at, a time in the fossil record later than the taxon's actual point of extinction, due to fossils of organisms belonging to the taxon having been eroded from their original strata and redeposited in the source sediments for younger strata.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, history, human-sciences, natural-sciences, paleontology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Referring to the fossil having been mobile, or "walking", long after the death of the original organism.