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This ancient worm might be an important evolutionary missing link

Lophophorates are a collection of sea creatures with a murky past

An illustration of the ancient armored worm Wufengella, with knobby spikes on its top and clumps of bristles on its side

An armored worm dubbed Wufengella (illustrated) might be the common ancestor of a diverse group of marine invertebrates.

Roberts Nicholls/paleocreations.com

By Allison Gasparini

- More than 2 years ago

An ancient, armored worm may be the key to unraveling the evolutionary history of a diverse collection of marine invertebrates.

Discovered in China, a roughly 520-million-year-old fossil of the newly identified worm, dubbed Wufengella, might be the missing link between three of the phyla that constitute a cadre of sea creatures called lophophorates.