07.15.09
‘Missing Link’
‘Missing Link’ Found at Stevns Klint in Denmark
by Politiken.dk
Original article in Danish:
from Dawkins site
http://politiken.dk/indland/article751826.ece
Translated by Anders Emil into English:
Missing Link Found at Stevns Klint in Denmark
The remains of a 65 million years old sea urchin found at Stevns Klint has turned out to be a sensational find, described as a ‘missing link’ by one expert.
It was the eager fossile hunter Leif Rasmussen, who during one of his frequent fossile hunts came across this ‘missing link’, informs Museum Inspector Jesper Milàn from the geological museum in Faxe, “Geomuseum Faxe”.
So far unseen quills
The sea urchin is, in spite of its many millions of years in the chalk layers of East Seeland, so well preserved that all of the animal’s quills were still intact on the shell. The quills are usually the first bits to fall off when a sea urchin dies and decomposes, according to Jesper Milàn.
“You normally use the shape of the quills to distinguish the species of sea urchins from each other, but the quills on this sea urchin did not look like anything, Leif Rasmussen had seen before”, says Jesper Milàn in a description of the find.
“Very great scientific value”
Because of this, the sea quill was delivered to the newly opened “Geomuseum Faxe”, who after having inspected it sent it off to the Natural History Museum of Denmark, where sea urchin expert Søren Bo Andersen from University of Aarhus investigated the specimen.
“The sea urchin turned out to be the first known fossile transition between two well known types of sea urchin, Tylocidaris Baltica and Tylocidaris Oedumi, and is therefore of very great scientific value”, Jesper Milàn continues.
Declared as “Danekræ”
The sea urchin has been officially declared as “Danekræ” (a term used for finds of unique scientific character on Danish ground), “and then ofcourse it is highly appropriate to find a ‘missing link’ this year, which is Darwin-year”, says Jesper Milán.
The chalk piece holding the valuable find will be on exhibition in “Geomuseum Faxe” until after autumn schools’ holiday and then entered into the collection in the Natural History Museum of Denmark.