3-D technology looks into the distant past
(PHYSorg.com Biology)

Researchers from the University of Tübingen and their colleagues from Switzerland have studied hundreds of fossil carp teeth for the first time using 3-D technologies. In 4 million-year old lake sediments from what is now the Armenian highlands, they found evidence of an astonishing variety of carp. Thanks to `virtual palaeontology,` the researchers identified four closely-related species of Mesopotamian barb fish, so-called scrapers. They believe that these species lived together in a giant system of lakes and formed a `species flock:` a group of closely related species inhabiting the same biotope. It is the first time that a species flock of freshwater fish has been found in western Asia. Today, these carp species live in separate regions. Findings such as this can help us to understand evolutionary developments and the origins of species diversity.