Historical Biology: Ancient marine worm species Shaihuludia shurikeni discovered
Paleontologists at the University of Kansas have discovered a new species of fossil marine worm, dubbed Shaihuludia shurikeni named after the Shai-Huluds, giant worms from Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel Dune. The fossil was found in the Spence Shale of the Langston Formation in southeastern Idaho. About the opening reported in an article published in the journal Historical Biology.
S. shurikeni refers to annelid worms, which include about 21 thousand species of worms, consisting of ring-shaped segments and living in terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments. These invertebrates (with the exception of leeches) are also characterized by the presence of bristles, while in the new species they have a blade shape, resembling shuriken, a Japanese throwing weapon.
The fossils date back to the Cambrian period, making them very rare in North America. So far, only one specimen of fossil annelids has been known to have been found in the Spence Shale. Most of the soft tissue of S. shurikeni was preserved as a “blob” of iron oxide, indicating that the animal decomposed for some time before becoming a fossil.
The scientists also re-examined a previously found annelids in the Spence Shale and reclassified it as Burgessochaeta. Before Burgessochaeta found only in the Burgess Shale, another mineral deposit in British Columbia (Canada). Both worm species inhabited a marine ecosystem ruled by invertebrate organisms such as trilobites, brachiopods, mollusks, and early forms of arthropods.
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