Penis worms are a group of marine invertebrates named for their shape so similar to that of the male genital organ. They lived about 500 million years ago during the Cambrian period , when they represented one of the most common organisms on our planet. These animals could reach lengths of up to 39 cm, and they possessed an extendable mouth with sharp hooks, teeth, and spines. It was a fearsome carnivorous worm that buried itself in sediment to catch its prey.
Now, new research by researchers at the University of Cambridge and the University of Leicester (UK) has found that the Priapulid group (named after Priapus, the Greek god of fertility) is more diverse than it is. It was thought, since a previously unrecognized type of penis worm has been identified in the Burgess Shale fossil site in the Canadian Rockies and has been named O. tricuspida . The most striking feature of this new specimen is that it has a unique triple tooth that distinguishes it from other penis worms .
“Our study has made it possible to compile a dental manual that will allow paleontologists to recognize some of the teeth found in the fossil record ,” says Martin Smith, leader of the study that has been collected in the journal Palaeontology.
In this work, scientists have reconstructed piece by piece that kind of “teeth” of this organism with a phallic appearance in order to understand what happened at an evolutionary level , since it is the moment when the first predatory animals emerged. mobile, leaving aside the sovereignty of algae and bacteria.
