Vampire squid fossil 'lost' during the Hungarian Revolution rediscovered (LiveScience)
By Stephanie Pappas - Live Science Contributor 3 days ago
Vampire squid have been lurking in the dark corners of the ocean for 30 million years, a new analysis of a long-lost fossil finds.
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Modern-day vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) can thrive in deep, oxygen-poor ocean water, unlike many other squid species that require shallower habitat along continental shelves. Few fossil ancestors of today's vampire squid survive, though, so scientists aren't sure when these elusive cephalopods evolved the ability to live with little oxygen.
The new fossil analysis helps to fill a 120-million-year gap in vampire squid evolution, revealing that the ancestors of modern-day vampire squid already lived in the deep oceans during the Oligocene, 23 million to 34 million years ago. These squid probably evolved adaptations to low-oxygen water during the Jurassic, said study co-author Martin Košťák, a paleontologist at Charles University in Prague.
Related: Photos of the vampire squid from hell
"Life in stable low-oxygen levels brings evolutionary advantages — low predation pressure and less competition," Košťák wrote in an email to Live Science.
A rediscovered fossil
Košťák and his colleagues found the long-lost fossil in the collections of the Hungarian Natural History Museum in 2019 while looking for fossils of cuttlefish ancestors. The fossil was originally discovered in 1942 by Hungarian paleontologist Miklós Kretzoi, who identified it as a squid dating back around 30 million years and named it Necroteuthis hungarica. Later researchers, though, argued that it was a cuttlefish ancestor. In 1956, during the Hungarian Revolution, the museum was burned, and the fossil was thought to be destroyed. The rediscovery was a happy surprise.
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more: https://www.livescience.com/vampire-squid-lost-fossil.html
I can't pass up a chance to remind DUers that vampire squid are amazing, beautiful creatures, and don't deserve to be compared to Uglicans or Wall St vulture capitalists. 
= new reply since forum marked as read
