Wednesday 6 May 2015

New Cambrian 'Penis Worm' Discovered

by Megan Gannon, News Editor | May 06, 2015 12:01am ET

You might have heard of vagina dentata — the mythical"toothed vagina" born of male paranoia. But have you heard of the carnivorous penis-shaped worm known as Ottoia prolifica? This 505-million-year-old phallus-like creature actually had a throat full of teeth.

Now, scientists who took a close look at the teeth of fossilized penis worms (or priapulids) have discovered a new species.

The paleontologist Charles Walcott first discovered O. prolifica in 1911 in the Burgess Shale, a geologic formation in the Canadian Rockies that contains fossils of bizarre critters such as trilobites and velvet worms from the middle Cambrian period.


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