![]() Researchers discovered 319 of the shallow burrows in 20m-year-old sandstone. ![]() “This results in the stack of cone-in-cone structures that form the ‘feathers’ around the uppermost part of the tube,” said Löwemark. When the worms pull their prey down into their lair, the top of the burrow collapses and the worms have to rebuild it before ambushing their next meal. Having ruled out other burrowing creatures such as shrimp, and marks left by stingrays that blast the seabed with water jets to expose cowering prey, the researchers concluded the feathered entrance to the lair was caused by a hunting strategy similar to the Bobbit worm’s. This gave the opening of the lair a feathered appearance in cross-section. ![]() At the top of the 3cm-wide burrows they noticed a distinctive pattern that looked like several inverted funnels stacked on top of each other. The scientists were initially mystified by the trace fossils, but gradually converged on a likely suspect. The burrows are strengthened with mucus and are more resilient to weathering, meaning they sometimes protrude from the fine sandstone rock faces. Löwemark and his colleagues discovered the fossilised lair and others like it while studying 20m-year-old sedimentary rock on the north-eastern coast of Taiwan. Photograph: Suppliedīobbit worms, or Eunice aphroditois, take their names from the John and Lorena Bobbitt case, in which the latter – after years of physical and sexual abuse – cut off the former’s penis with a kitchen knife. An illustration shows how the worms may have captured their prey.
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