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The 20-million-year old lair of an ambush-predatory worm preserved in northeast Taiwan.

ABSTRACT: The feeding behavior of the giant ambush-predator "Bobbit worm" (Eunice aphroditois) is spectacular. They hide in their burrows until they explode upwards grabbing unsuspecting prey with a snap of their powerful jaws. The still living prey are then pulled into the sediment for consumption. Although predatory polychaetes have existed since the early Paleozoic, their bodies comprise mainly soft tissue, resulting in a very incomplete fossil record, and virtually nothing is known about their burrows and behavior beneath the seafloor. Here we use morphological, sedimentological, and geochemical data from Miocene strata in northeast Taiwan to erect a new ichnogenus, Pennichnus. This trace fossil consists of an up to 2 m long, 2-3 cm in diameter, L-shaped burrow with distinct feather-like structures around the upper shaft. A comparison of Pennichnus to biological analogs strongly suggests that this new ichnogenus is associated with ambush-predatory worms that lived about 20 million years ago.

SUBMITTER: Pan YY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7820589 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The 20-million-year old lair of an ambush-predatory worm preserved in northeast Taiwan.

Pan Yu-Yen YY Nara Masakazu M Löwemark Ludvig L Miguez-Salas Olmo O Gunnarson Björn B Iizuka Yoshiyuki Y Chen Tzu-Tung TT Dashtgard Shahin E SE

Scientific reports 20210121 1

The feeding behavior of the giant ambush-predator "Bobbit worm" (Eunice aphroditois) is spectacular. They hide in their burrows until they explode upwards grabbing unsuspecting prey with a snap of their powerful jaws. The still living prey are then pulled into the sediment for consumption. Although predatory polychaetes have existed since the early Paleozoic, their bodies comprise mainly soft tissue, resulting in a very incomplete fossil record, and virtually nothing is known about their burrows ...[more]

PMID: 33479265

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Project description:During this research, the average surface temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and pH were 24.65 ± 1.53 (°C), 34.21 ± 0.07 (PSU), 6.85 ± 0.18 (mg/L), and 8.36 ± 0.03, respectively. Based on these environmental parameters, stations were arranged into three groups. Group A represents stations located around Keelung Island with the relative highest average dissolved oxygen, lowest average temperature, and pH values. Instead, the lowest average dissolved oxygen and highest average temperature, salinity, and pH values were recorded at the offshore stations. Keelung Island area was charged by cold water masses, which were driven by the Northeast monsoon, and stations in group C were affected by the Kuroshio Current. Kueishan Island area was mainly affected by mixed water masses resulting from the Kuroshio intrusion and monsoon-derived cold water. In this study, a total of 108 copepod species were identified, with an average abundance of 774.24 ± 289.42 (inds. m-3). Most species belong to the orders Calanoida and Poecilostomatoida, with an average relative abundance (RA) of 62.96% and 30.56%, respectively. Calanoid copepodites were the most dominant group, with a RA of 28.06%. This was followed by Paracalanus aculeatus, with a RA of 18.44%. The RA of Clausocalanus furcatus and Canthocalanus pauper was 4.80% and 3.59%, respectively. The dominant species P. aculeatus, C. pauper, Paracalanus parvus, and Temora turbinata were positively correlated with dissolved oxygen and negatively correlated with temperature in the surface waters. pH showed a negative correlation with P. parvus and T. turbinata, while the temperature was negatively correlated with these two dominant species. Indicator species were selected by an indicator value higher than 50%. Temora turbinata, Calanopia elliptica, C. pauper, Euchaeta concinna, Temora discaudata, Acartia pacifica, Macrosetella gracilis, Corycaeus speciosus, and P. parvus were considered as monsoonal cold water indicator species in Group A. Indicator copepod species for the Kuroshio Current were Farranula concinna, Copilia mirabilis, Candacia aethiopica, Corycaeus agilis, Farranula gibbula and Acrocalanus monachus in the study area. Paracandacia truncata, Oncaea clevei, P. aculeatus, and Centropages furcatus were considered suitable indicators for mixed water masses.

Dataset Information

The 20-million-year old lair of an ambush-predatory worm preserved in northeast Taiwan.

Publications

The 20-million-year old lair of an ambush-predatory worm preserved in northeast Taiwan.

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