# Neontology

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{{short description|Branch of biology that studies living organisms}}
{{distinguish|Neonatology}}
<!---Extant taxon is now a redirect here, so this article needs to be about that topic now too...--->
'''Neontology''' is a part of [biology](/source/biology) that, in contrast to [paleontology](/source/paleontology), studies and deals with living (or, more generally, ''[recent](/source/Holocene)'') [organisms](/source/organisms). It is the study of '''extant taxa''' (singular: extant [taxon](/source/taxon)): taxa (such as [species](/source/species), [genera](/source/genus) and [families](/source/Family_(taxonomy))) with members still alive, as opposed to (all) being [extinct](/source/Extinction). For example:
* The [Indian elephant](/source/Indian_elephant) (''Elephas maximus'') is an extant species, and the [woolly mammoth](/source/woolly_mammoth) (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species. 
* The [moose](/source/moose) (''Alces alces'') is an extant species, and the [Irish elk](/source/Irish_elk) (''Megaloceros giganteus'') is an extinct species. 
* In the group of [mollusc](/source/mollusc)s known as the [cephalopod](/source/cephalopod)s, {{as of|1987|lc=y}} there were approximately 600 extant species and 7,500 extinct species.<ref name="Essential">{{Cite book|title=Essential readings in evolutionary biology|others=Ayala, Francisco José, 1934-, Avise, John C.|isbn=978-1-4214-1305-1|location=Baltimore|oclc=854285705|last1=Ayala|first1=Francisco J.|last2=Avise|first2=John C.|date=2014-03-15}}</ref>

A taxon can be classified as extinct if it is broadly agreed or certified that no members of the group are still alive. Conversely, an extinct taxon can be reclassified as extant if there are new discoveries of living species ("[Lazarus species](/source/Lazarus_species)"), or if previously known extant species are reclassified as members of the taxon.        

Most biologists, [zoologists](/source/zoology), and [botanist](/source/botanist)s are in practice neontologists, and the term neontologist is used largely by paleontologists referring to non-[paleontologists](/source/Paleontology). [Stephen Jay Gould](/source/Stephen_Jay_Gould) said of neontology:
<blockquote>
All professions maintain their [parochialism](/source/parochialism)s, and I trust that nonpaleontological readers will forgive our major manifestation. We are paleontologists, so we need a name to contrast ourselves with all you folks who study modern [organisms](/source/organisms) in [human](/source/human) or [ecological](/source/ecology) time. You therefore become neontologists. We do recognize the unbalanced and parochial nature of this [dichotomous](/source/Dichotomy) division.<ref name="Pattern">{{Cite book|title=Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution|last=Shennan|first=Stephan|publisher=University of California Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-520-25599-9|pages=115}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Neontological evolutionary biology has a temporal perspective between 100 and 1000 years. Neontology's fundamental basis relies on models of natural selection as well as [speciation](/source/speciation). Neontology's methods, when compared to evolutionary [paleontology](/source/paleontology), have a greater emphasis on experiments. There are more frequent discontinuities present in paleontology than in neontology, because paleontology involves extinct taxa. Neontology has organisms actually present and available to sample and perform research on.<ref name="Essential"/> Neontology's research method uses [cladistics](/source/cladistics) to examine [morphologies](/source/morphology_(biology)) and [genetics](/source/genetics). Neontology data has more emphasis on genetic data and the population structure than paleontology does.<ref name="Pattern"/>

==Information gaps==
When the scientific community accepted the [synthetic theory of evolution](/source/synthetic_theory_of_evolution), [taxonomies](/source/taxonomy_(biology)) became [phylogenetic](/source/Phylogenetics).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Molecular evolutionary genetics|last=Masatoshi.|first=Nei|date=1987|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-06321-0|location=New York|oclc=13945914}}</ref> As a result, information gaps arose within the fossil record of species, especially in [Homo sapiens](/source/Homo_sapiens). The anthropologists who accepted the synthetic theory reject the idea of an "ape-man" because the concept had mistaken paleontology with neontology.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of the history of science|others=Bynum, W. F. (William F.), 1943-, Browne, E. J. (E. Janet), 1950-, Porter, Roy, 1946-2002|isbn=978-0-691-61471-7|location=Princeton, New Jersey|oclc=889248984|last1 = Bynum|first1 = William F.|date=July 2014}}</ref>  An ape-man, in actuality, would be a [primate](/source/primate) with traits that would represent anything in between [human](/source/human)s and the other [great apes](/source/Hominidae). If the concept of an ape-man were based on neontology, then our [phenotype](/source/phenotype) would resemble [Bigfoot](/source/Bigfoot). Since the concept was based on paleontology, the idea of an ape-man could possibly be represented by the fossil hominids.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Creature of controversy: a candid look at the hidden world of Bigfoot research & the men and women who hunt for a legend|last=Shiel|first=Lisa A.|date=2011|publisher=Jacobsville Books|isbn=978-1-934631-42-3|location=Lake Linden, MI|oclc=818361503}}</ref>

==Extant taxa versus extinct taxa {{Anchor|Extant taxon}}==
Neontology studies ''extant'' (living) taxa and recently extinct taxa, but declaring a taxon to be definitively extinct is difficult. Taxa that have previously been declared extinct may reappear over time. Species that were once considered extinct and then reappear unscathed are characterized by the term "the Lazarus effect", or are also called a [Lazarus species](/source/Lazarus_species).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://biogeosciences.u-bourgogne.fr/documents/articles_pdf/2001_Fara_GeolJ.pdf|title=What are Lazarus taxa?|last=Fara|first=Emmanuel|date=19 April 2000|access-date=30 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801081317/http://biogeosciences.u-bourgogne.fr/documents/articles_pdf/2001_Fara_GeolJ.pdf|archive-date=1 August 2016}}</ref> For example, a study determined that 36% of supposed mammalian extinction had been proven, while the other 64% had insufficient evidence to be declared extinct or had been rediscovered.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Extinctions in near time: causes, contexts, and consequences|others=MacPhee, R. D. E.|isbn=978-1-4419-3315-7|location=New York|oclc=887840635|last1=MacPhee|first1=Ross D. E.|last2=Sues|first2=Hans-Dieter|date=2010-12-07}}</ref> Currently, the [International Union for Conservation of Nature](/source/International_Union_for_Conservation_of_Nature) considers a taxon to be recently extinct if the extinction occurred after 1500 [C.E.](/source/Common_Era)<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Fisher|first1=Diana O.|last2=Blomberg|first2=Simon P.|date=2011-04-07|title=Correlates of rediscovery and the detectability of extinction in mammals|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences|language=en|volume=278|issue=1708|pages=1090–1097|doi=10.1098/rspb.2010.1579|issn=0962-8452|pmid=20880890|pmc=3049027}}</ref> A recently considered extinct mammal was the [Bouvier's red colobus](/source/Bouvier's_red_colobus) monkey, who was considered extinct up until 2015 when it was rediscovered after 40 years with no recorded sightings.<ref>{{cite iucn |author=Maisels, F. |author2=Devreese, L. |date=2020 |title=''Piliocolobus bouvieri'' |volume=2020 |article-number=e.T18250A166600357 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T18250A166600357.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>

==Neontology importance==
Neontology's fundamental theories rely on biological models of [natural selection](/source/natural_selection) and speciation that connect genes, the unit of heredity with the mechanism of evolution by natural selection.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Integrating Fossils into Phylogenies |url=https://ib.berkeley.edu/courses/ib200b/lect/ib200b_lect10_Lindberg_fossils_in_phylogenies.pdf |access-date=2024-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180324220047/https://ib.berkeley.edu/courses/ib200b/lect/ib200b_lect10_Lindberg_fossils_in_phylogenies.pdf |archive-date=2018-03-24 }}</ref> For example, researchers utilized neontological and paleontological datasets to study nonhuman primate dentition compared with human dentition. In order to understand the underlying genetic mechanisms that influence this variation between nonhuman primates and humans, neontological methods are applied to the research method. By incorporating neontology with different biological research methods, it can become clear how genetic mechanisms underlie major events in processes such as primate evolution.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Grieco|first1=Theresa M.|last2=Rizk|first2=Oliver T.|last3=Hlusko|first3=Leslea J.|date=2012-09-07|title=Data from: A modular framework characterizes micro- and macroevolution of Old World monkey dentitions|chapter-url=http://datadryad.org/resource/doi:10.5061/dryad.693j8|doi=10.5061/dryad.693j8|type=Data Set|publisher=Dryad Digital Repository|chapter=Development}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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Category:Taxonomy
Category:Holocene

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Neontology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neontology) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neontology?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.