Reprinted from The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution by ...

Earliest fossils of
a species are 16
million years old
16 1
Size of
species
range
Last known
fossils are 1
million years old
11 1 13 5 11 3 11 3 16 6 7 1 22 15 22 6 13 3 26 3
28 19 35 6 19 6 19 12 43 27 22 6 26 15 6 1 35 21 19 5
28 19 43 25 19 12 11 2 13 5 35 15 19 12 16 6 19 12 22 6
19 10 16 6 19 12 37 27 22 15 6 1 28 15 6 1 11 3 13 3
11 3 35 21 35 15 11 3 19 6 22 6 19 10 26 3 43 34 7 3
26 15 11 3 19 12 13 5 26 5 28 6 43 21 35 15 26 15 19 12
36 25 16 5 16 1 33 3 19 12 37 15 37 25 26 15 43 34 11 3
11 1 16 6 35 19 11 3 19 12 22 15 32 6 13 5 19 10 19 6
35 21 19 10 26 15 19 10 4 1 4 1 7 1 11 3 19 12 19 6
7 3 6 1 43 27 16 6 28 3 36 3 17 3 19 3 11 3 16 6
13 3 19 10 7 3 26 15 11 3 11 2 7 3 37 25 37 27 6 1
26 15 19 5 11 3 19 6 7 3 26 15 22 15 26 15 7 3 7 1
37 27 26 10 43 34 28 15 26 15 16 6 22 15 6 2 11 3 22 6
11 3 19 10 26 15 26 3 7 2 11 3 19 3 16 5 19 10 19 6
Figure 10.7 These graphs chart the rise and fall of mollusk species over the past 43 million
years around New Zealand. The left number on each graph is the age of the earliest
fossil in a species (in millions of years), and the right number is the age of the youngest fossil.
The height of each graph represents the range over which fossils at each interval have
been found. As these graphs demonstrate, some species survive longer than others, but in
general they endured for a few million years. (Adapted from Foote, 2008)