Thanks a fool in paradise.
Posted on 09/10/2014 10:14:01 AM PDT by Red Badger
Sir Mick Jagger has a new animal named after him. Scientists have named an extinct swamp-dwelling creature that lived 19 million years ago in Africa after the Rolling Stones frontman, in honor of a trait they both share—their supersized lips.
"We gave it the scientific name Jaggermeryx naida, which translates to 'Jagger's water nymph,'" said study co-author Ellen Miller of Wake Forest University. The animal's fossilized jaw bones suggest it was roughly the size of a small deer and akin to a cross between a slender hippo and a long-legged pig.
Researchers uncovered the fossils—consisting of multiple jawbone fragments—amid the sand dunes and eroded rock of a remote site in the Egyptian desert.
The creature belonged to a family of extinct hoofed animals called anthracotheres. Jaggermeryx is one of six species of anthracotheres found at the site. What distinguished it from other members of this family was a series of tiny holes on either side of its jaw that held the nerves providing sensation to the chin and lower lip.
"The animal probably had a highly innervated muzzle with mobile and tactile lips, thus the Jagger reference," said Duke University paleontologist and study co-author Gregg Gunnell.
The Egyptian site where the fossils were found is mostly desert today, but geological data suggest that millions of years ago it was a lush tropical delta crisscrossed by rivers and swampland.
Preliminary measurements of the relative amounts of different isotopes in the animal's bones suggest that it probably ate plants.
"It may have used its sensitive snout to forage along river banks, scooping up plants with its lower teeth and large lips," Miller said.
The Jaggermeryx fossils, which now reside in collections at Duke, the Cairo Geological Museum and Cairo University, were found alongside fossilized catfish, turtles, waterbirds and crocodile poop.
"Some of my colleagues suggested naming the new species after Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, because she also has famous lips. But for me it had to be Mick," said Miller, who recently read the autobiography of Jagger's musical partner Keith Richards.
"I was a HUGE Rolling Stones fan in my day," Gunnell said. "'Exile on Main St.' and 'Let it Bleed' were my favorite albums."
More information: "Anthracotheres from Wadi Moghra, early Miocene, Egypt," Miller, E. and Gunnell, G., et al. Journal of Paleontology, 88(5) 2014. DOI: 10.1666/13-122
Journal reference: Journal of Paleontology
my first thought as well
Looks like my first fish caught in the Anamas river in Farmington NM back om 1956.
It was a sucker. (carp)
Wonder if they’ll find another fossil to name after Keith since he has always looked like a living fossil.
Some of those Brits from the 60s started rapidly ageing in their 20s. Mick and Keith haven’t shown their true age because they have always looked, shall we say, more mature and wrinkled. When they reach their 90s, they will still look the same. At least he didn’t try to pull a Michael Jackson on his fans. :)
I’m sure Mick will accept the honour graciously.
Gimme Mick
Gimme Mick
Baby hair
Bulgin eyes
Lips so thick
-Gilda Radner as Candy Slice
So, they’re introducing pop culture figures into paleontological naming conventions based upon speculation regarding soft tissue features that may or may not have actually existed?
Who knows, maybe they’ll discover a creature speculated to be androgynous, of low intelligence with a very prolonged adolescence that died out due to failure to reproduce, and name it Bieberopteryx.
Thanks a fool in paradise.
I’ve caught catfish in the San Juan River farther west in the 80’s.
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