10-31-2011, 03:30 AM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/15493634
Traces of bone-eating "zombie worms" have been found in a three-million-year-old fossil from Italy, say researchers.
Osedax worms feed on whale skeletons on the seabed using root-like tissues to bore into and dissolve the bones.
Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London identified telltale borings in the fossil using a scanner.
The discovery suggests the worms were much more widespread throughout prehistoric oceans than thought.
The findings of lead scientist Nicholas Higgs and colleagues are published in the journal Historical Biology.
Traces of bone-eating "zombie worms" have been found in a three-million-year-old fossil from Italy, say researchers.
Osedax worms feed on whale skeletons on the seabed using root-like tissues to bore into and dissolve the bones.
Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London identified telltale borings in the fossil using a scanner.
The discovery suggests the worms were much more widespread throughout prehistoric oceans than thought.
The findings of lead scientist Nicholas Higgs and colleagues are published in the journal Historical Biology.
