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An Ancient Penis Worm With Rings of Sharp Teeth Has Been Discovered in the Grand Canyon


The 500-million-year-old fossil, containing a species named in honor of the krayt dragons in Star Wars, is a much larger ancestor of phallic marine worms that can be found on the seabed today.

About 500 million years ago, the Grand Canyon was a great sea, and among the creatures it harbored was a newly discovered type of penis worm, armed with many rings of teeth. The researcher who made the find was searching for fossils in the Grand Canyon and named the species Kraytdraco spectatus in honor of the huge burrowing krayt dragons that appear in the Star Wars universe. Trying to imagine how the ancient worm might have fed, the researchers hypothesize that along this proboscis it combined strong, sharp teeth with more delicate feathered ones for a two-stage eating process.

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