https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/science/fossils-worms-bifungites-brazil.html Skip to contentSkip to site index Science Today's Paper Science|These Fossils Are Found All Over, but What Made Them Was a Mystery https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/science/ fossils-worms-bifungites-brazil.html * Share full article * * * 10 Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Trilobites These Fossils Are Found All Over, but What Made Them Was a Mystery Scientists in Brazil identified marine worms that made at least some trace fossil burrows called Bifungites. * Share full article * * * 10 A dumbbell-shaped fossil burrow rises from a piece of gray and tan stone. Bifungites turn up in Brazil, the United States, Canada, India and African and European countries. The creatures that made these fossilized burrows have been a mystery.Credit...Daniel Sedorko By Priyanka Runwal Aug. 22, 2024 If you know where to look, you can find dumbbell-shaped fossils in rock outcrops all over the world: in Brazil, the United States, Canada, India and African and European countries. They are called Bifungites, and they are not fossilized animals but burrows left in an extinct creature's wake. Most are found in rocks from the Paleozoic era more than 300 million years ago. No one knows what made these Bifungites burrows, which are considered trace fossils, although scientists have hypothesized what they might have been. Daniel Sedorko, an invertebrate paleontologist at Brazil's National Museum, has studied them for more than a decade, and during an expedition in June 2022, he noticed something unusual. The burrows are typically empty because the creatures that constructed them were soft-bodied invertebrates that often don't fossilize well. On exposed rocks in the bed of the Sambito River in northeastern Brazil, Dr. Sedorko saw an imprint of a small worm inside one Bifungites. Within hours, his team found seven other fossilized burrows with the same worm imprint, indicating that these organisms produced them. The researchers believe it's the first record revealing the invertebrates that made these Bifungites. They announced their discovery in the September issue of the journal Earth History and Biodiversity. Image Impressions that seem to match the species Annulitubus were associated with a number of Braziian Bifungites.Credit...Daniel Sedorko Carlos Neto de Carvalho, an expert in the study of trace fossils, or ichnology, at the University of Lisbon who wasn't involved in the work, called the find exciting. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Site Index Site Information Navigation * (c) 2024 The New York Times Company * NYTCo * Contact Us * Accessibility * Work with us * Advertise * T Brand Studio * Your Ad Choices * Privacy Policy * Terms of Service * Terms of Sale * Site Map * Canada * International * Help * Subscriptions * Manage Privacy Preferences