
Boneworms (red animals in this picture) was first discovered in the early first decade of the twentieth century, but these animals have been believed to have evolved more than 100 million years ago. Quotes Fujiwara et al. Via ZookeysLicensed under CC by 4.0.
When large marine animals such as whales dieThey drown to the sea floor. Once their body is stripped by corridors and microbes, their bodies are colonized through a variety of specialized invertebrates that take lower fats and proteins within their bone structures.
These societies that eat bones are old, and have been on the face of the earth for at least 100 million years. Before the presence of whales, the worms that eaten the bones eaten in the skeletons of mosquitoes, chthathyras and bilzecores-which wandered in their distinctive burrows in this process.
New search, Published In the magazine Plos oneSeven of these types of hole were named. Sarah Jameson-Todd, PhD, says the student who led the research, that although researchers cannot be completely sure of the species that made holes preserved in fossil bones, some of them are very similar to worms that eat live bones.
“We did not find anything else making a similar hole of these animals,” explains Jamison-Todd. “Since the old hoop is very similar to modern Ospeedax types, and we do not have fossils in the body for our contradiction, we assume that they were made by the same similar being.”
It shows that the worms that take the bones are part of the proportions that extend at least to The Cretaceous eraPerhaps beyond that. We can see how the diversity of worms that eat bones change over millions of years. “
What is Esponax worms?
Bone eating worms play an important role in recycling the nutrients of the ocean. But despite this vital function The first types of Osposax were discovered only in 2002With dozens of species described since then.
Worms in the oceans can be found from the Arctic to the Antarctic. They live in a group of depths, from only 20 meters below the surface to more than four kilometers.
What makes their lives more exceptional is that they do not even have a mouth or anus. Instead, OUSAX worms rely on bacteria to break their skeletons before absorbing the nutrients launched through a root -like system.
It seems that this Takaful relationship Between worms and ancient bacteria really. The bones and teeth are preserved from Plesiosaurs, ancient whales and turtles from the last 100 million years of the wells of these worms.
Farmed effects of animal activity Like bone burrows cannot be called the whole species, but it can be described as “ICNOSPECIES”.
Various types of modern bone cycle create different burrows in the shape that can be used to determine worms down to the levels of species. Researchers who look at these fossil effects suspect that the same thing can be done with old burrows.

The team searched for external evidence on OSPECUS burrows before wiping the appropriate fossils. Credit: Jamison-Todd et al
Hunting
To start their research, the team turned into a wide range of marine reptile fossils that the Natural History Museum takes care of. Dr. Mark Jones, who organizes this group, says the team needs to start getting an accurate bone date.
“Some of these samples were collected in the nineteenth century, and the information related to them can be very short, so it is difficult to know where it is,” Jones explains. “We focused on samples of UK chalk, such as Our colleagues are working better for these chalk ecosystems Using the museum collections. “
“They are also working so far in an unknown era. Using the remains of small beings that make up the chalk themselves, we have been able to history of excavations to more accurate segments of the Cretaceous era.”
Then the team looked for signs that the fossils were bored. In addition to the most obvious collapsed burrows, the team is closely examined by the bones and teeth of the well’s entrances to the size of the holes.
“We have examined more than 130 different fossils of the bone bone holes,” says Jameson Town. “However, not all the fossils that appear to be bored by these worms – could have been caused by different animals or environmental struggle.”
“The only way to confirm this really is to put fossils under a CT scanner. This allows us to create three -dimensional rebuilding from inside the bone and see the different patterns left behind.”
New boring species
In total, researchers have identified a set of six burrows in the bones and teeth that represent the new bone worm. The excavations previously studied from the Belgian Royal Institute of Natural Sciences also included seven.
The team relied on a variety of different sources to inspire their new names. Some indicate the shape that worms leave in the bone, with the appearance of Ospecus Arboreum like a tree. Meanwhile, OSSPECUS MORSUS was named after the Latin word “bite” because it is mostly present in fossil teeth.
Another type, OSPECUS EUNICEFOTIA, was named, in honor of Eunice Newton Foote, a world whose pioneering research has been ignored in the effect of greenhouse for more than a century. She was the first person on an experimental basis to indicate this More quantities of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would increase the Earth’s temperature.
The team hopes that naming different types of burrow will make it easy for other scientists to find these effects in other excavations and document their real diversity.
“There are many other examples of boring that have not yet been called old and modern worms that take bones,” says Jameson Town. “In fact, it seems that some of the chalk ages are similar to those that are still made today.”
“Knowing whether these burrows are made of the same type, or are an example of converging development, will give us a much better idea of how these animals developed, and how marine environmental systems have formed over millions of years.”
More information:
Sarah Jamison-Todd et Al, the development of the skeleton of the skeleton of the UK’s chalkirier, developed. Plos one (2025). Doi: 10.1371/Journal.pone.0326451. Journals.plos.org/plosone/arti … journal.pone.0320945
This story was re -published by the Museum of Natural History Museum. Read the original story here.
quoteOld worms that take the bones of Musassur, Chthathiusor, and skeletons of Slegosor (2025, July 9) on July 9, 2025 of https://phys.org/news
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