Well I have no doubt that is all true. However, while I can pick up worms ( nice ones, like earthworms) I still get a shiver in my gizzard at the thought of dealing all other worm life forms. Maggots, ugh. I know they are not real worms but they are wormy and icky in their life transformation. The various other worms you mention sound interesting though. I should get a book...just reading about them ought to be ok. lol... Allison
From: Lin Kerns <linkerns@gmail.com>
To: Geology2 <geology2@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 3, 2013 7:01 AM
Subject: Re: [Geology2] Ancient Tapeworm Eggs Found in Fossilized Shark Poop
Worms are one of the most successful life forms on earth. When the human race is long gone, worms will still be here (along with insects). They range from the simple pinworms that can be contracted analy from one human to another or via the the bare foot, to the colorful and ocean loving Polychete worm, to the masterful Dracunculus that can grow to the length of one yard and must be removed slowly from the host via winding it on a stick. The beef that people consume contains USDA approved encysted dead worms. And the tapeworm, born pregnant and hermaphroditic, enabling it to fertilize and to propagate its own progeny, are still a scourge in all mammals thanks to its vector, the flea, but spread nematode worm eggs over your yard and they will eat the flea eggs. The worm has even been immortalized in legend as the Mongolian Death Worm that purportedly inhabits the Mongolian Desert and grows to 5' feet in length.
I can list numerous examples of worms and how they have evolved to use higher forms of life as either a stage for their growth or the destination for consumption and reproduction. Worms... they're not just for fishing. :-) On Sat, Feb 2, 2013 at 2:42 PM, allison.ann@att.net <allison.ann@att.net> wrote:
And to think that we humans actually took pills containing tapeworms/eggs for weight loss. Does no one do that any more? Hey, prehistoric sharks did it! Allison who is amusing herself while waiting for teens at the mall.
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From: "Lin Kerns" <linkerns@gmail.com>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Subject: [Geology2] Ancient Tapeworm Eggs Found in Fossilized Shark Poop
Date: Fri, Feb 1, 2013 3:19 PM
Ancient Tapeworm Eggs Found in Fossilized Shark Poop
Charles Choi, LiveScience ContributorDate: 30 January 2013
Fossilized shark poop, called a coprolite (shown here), was found to contain ancient tapeworm eggs.
CREDIT: Luiz Flavio Lopes.
Ancient tapeworm eggs found in 270-million-year-old shark poop suggests these parasites may have plagued animals for much longer than previously known, researchers say.Tapeworms cling to the inner walls of the intestines of vertebrates — creatures with backbones such as fish, pigs, cows and humans. When these parasites reach adulthood, they unleash their eggs on the world via the feces of their hosts.Investigating the early history of such parasites of vertebrates is tricky because fossils of these parasites dating back to the age of dinosaurs or before are rare. One way researchers might unearth such fossils is by analyzing coprolites, or fossilized dung.Scientists now reveal they found a spiral-shaped coprolite from a shark that holds a cluster of 93 oval tapeworm eggs. One of them even contains a probable developing larva, which held a cluster of fiberlike objects that may have been the beginnings of hooklets used to attach to a host's intestines as adults. [See Photos of the Parasite Eggs & Fossil Poop]
CREDIT: Bruno Horn.The fossils, unearthed in southern Brazil, date to the Paleozoic era (251 million to 542 million years ago), before dinosaurs roamed the Earth. This predates other known examples of intestinal parasites in vertebrates by 140 million years.The eggs are each only about 150 microns long, or about one-and-a-half times the average width of a human hair. The researchers discovered the eggs by cutting coprolites into thin slices."Luckily in one of them, we found the eggs," researcher Paula Dentzien-Dias, a paleontologist at the Federal University of the Rio Grande in Brazil, told LiveScience. "The eggs were found in only one thin section."This coprolite was found with more than 500 others at one site. The researchers suggest the area was once a freshwater pond where many fish got trapped together during a dry spell.The mineral pyrite, also known as fool's gold, was found in the coprolite. This suggests its environment was depleted of oxygen, conditions that probably helped preserve the fossils for millions of years.There is no way of knowing for certain what specific type of shark left this fossil behind, since all sharks have similar intestines (and thus poop). It is unlikely the tapeworm infestation killed the shark that left this coprolite, unless the infestation was huge, Dentzien-Dias said.The researchers are now examining similar coprolites at the same outcrop. "We have to choose between 500 coprolites which ones will be cut," Dentzien-Dias said.The scientists detailed their findings online Jan. 30 in the journal PLOS ONE.http://www.livescience.com/26738-ancient-tapeworms-fossilized-shark-poop.html
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