"They've been evolving and interacting while all these massive changes have been occurring," said evolutionary biologist Jennifer Hoyal Cuthill. "The closer the interdependency the higher the risk of extinction," Hoyal Cuthill said. One of the studied flatworm species (David Blair)In many parts of Australia, that would put an end to the million-century-old partnership between the two groups of species. But, as Hoyal Cuthill pointed out, at some point mountains have peaks. The bond between spiny mountain crayfish and their tiny, flatworm friends was forged some 100 million years ago on the thickly forested super-continent of Gondwana.

Source: Washington Post May 25, 2016 13:36 UTC