Scientists Discover First Fossilized Leech!
The first ever fossilized leech!
Post Author- Ellis Nolan
Halloween Season is officially upon us, and with that, we present a chilling tale of an ancient, blood-sucking fiend: the leech. The subject of many swimmers’ worst nightmare, a recent study suggests the leech may be millions of years older than originally presumed and may not have sucked blood.
These new discoveries about the leech originate from a fossil recovered in the Waukesha Biota fossil site in Wisconsin. This site is categorized as a Konservat-Lagerstätten, a region where fossils are preserved with exceptional clarity, particularly in the case of organic tissues, which often go unpreserved in regular conditions. The leech is a perfect example of such an organism and such a fossil; scientists note the subject of the study is the only body fossil of a leech ever found.
The fossil in question is an exceptionally preserved tube-shaped marine worm, whose characteristics closely resemble that of a modern leech, particularly its large sucker. However, the researchers note that this ancient worm probably didn’t suck blood, since the vertebrate fossils discovered in the Waukesha Biota would have been much too small. These worms also lack the biological hardware modern worms use in their vampiric practices as well, and thus, likely swallowed their prey whole or, more unsettlingly, sucked their insides out. Shudder.
Scientists previously believed leeches’ oldest ancestors (subclass hirudinea) to have originated during the Jurassic or Cretaceous Period, however, this organism appears to date from the Silurean Period, about 200 million years earlier. The authors note that while this is already a massive shift, it is possible that leeches could be even older, as their tissue composition already makes for a rare fossil. Furthermore, it’s difficult to judge whether this organism is a direct ancestor of modern leeches specifically as not all of the body is intact.
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