This 50-million-year-old worm sperm is a scientific treasure
Scientists in Antarctica have come across one of the rarest specimens on record: ancient, fossilized worm sperm. "Because sperm cells are so short-lived and fragile, they are vanishingly rare in the fossil record," explains Benjamin Bomfleur, one of the palaeontologists who discovered the preserved cells. In fact, the find itself was an accident: Bomfleur's college, Thomas Mörs, came across the ancient sperm while examining a fossilized worm cocoon.
According to the a paper published in the latest edition of Biology Letters, the preserved sperm is very similar to the sperm of modern-day crayfish worms, but its location suggests that the prehistoric animal lived in a wider geographic area than its modern counterpart. Perhaps more important than this specific find itself is where it was found--in an annelid cocoon that takes several days to harden. The team believes this environment is ideal for trapping micro-organisms, and hopes to find more rare specimens by specifically targeting similarly fossilized cocoons.
[Image credit: Swedish Museum of Natural History]
