Canada discovered rare earthworm fossils

Canadian paleontologists recently learned that, for more than a decade, they have owned a fossil of hard-shelled worms that lived hundreds of millions of years ago.

Managers at the Ontario Royal Museum only discovered their "treasure" when a similar worm fossil was found at Morocco.

The excavation of hard-shell worm fossils belonging to the Machaeridian family in Canada is also accidental.

An ancient earthworm fossil found in the United States

Since the early 90s of the last century, the construction of the world exchange center building in the capital Ottawa has been conducted and an amateur fossil collector has found the ancient hard-shell worm fossil. on a large pile of rock from the foundation excavation.

A year later, the collector handed back the worm fossil to a prestigious Canadian paleontologist.

However, this fossil was then unnoticed and has been in the museum's storage for more than 10 years.

By the time another fossil of the hard-shell worm was discovered in a remote area of ​​Marocco and published, Canadian scientists could see the connection between these fossils.

Machaeridian hard shell worm is thought to have appeared 480 million years ago and extinct about 250 million years ago.

According to scientists, the ancestors of hard-shelled worms living in the ocean are soft-bodied species, but due to being chased by animals such as octopus and squid, they have evolved into hard shells for self-defense.

Millions of years ago, the Canadian capital of Ottawa was on the sea floor, so the possibility of hard-shelled worms appeared here was completely natural.