NEW DELHI: Chinese researchers from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences published a paper claiming to have found a prehistoric tapeworm partially intact inside a sample of 100-million-year-old mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber in Myanmar.
According to the scientists, the discovery of a tapeworm from this era is extremely uncommon and may contain DNA traces of its ancient host, reported WION.
Tapeworms, ranging from less than a millimeter to over 30 meters in length, can infect both humans and livestock and thrive in almost all kinds of environments.
The discovery mirrors a scene from the popular Sci-fi movie “Jurassic Park,” where scientists used prehistoric mosquito remains to extract the DNA from extinct creatures from a time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
According to Luo Cihang, the first author of the study, “The current find is the most convincing body fossil of a platyhelminth ever found.”
As per the research repoerted by WION, the tapeworm might have hooked onto the intestines of a host during the Early Cretaceous period, known as the “Age of Dinosaurs.” This suggests that the tapeworm could potentially be carrying DNA from various dinosaurs like deinonychus, carnotaurus, or carcharodontosaurus.
The study highlights that the amber was deposited into the amber on shore, indicating its host might have been a marine dinosaur. According to one theory, the host may have been trapped on land and died, causing the tapeworm to detach itself from the host’s intestine and move out of the body and into sticky amber.
The study hints that the amber was formed on the shore, indicating a potential marine dinosaur host. One theory proposes that the host may have perished on land, causing the tapeworm to detach and become encased in sticky amber.
Alternatively another theory assumed that, the tapeworm’s marine host might have been eaten by a land-roaming dinosaur, allowing the tapeworm to escape and get trapped in the amber.
According to the scientists, the discovery of a tapeworm from this era is extremely uncommon and may contain DNA traces of its ancient host, reported WION.
Tapeworms, ranging from less than a millimeter to over 30 meters in length, can infect both humans and livestock and thrive in almost all kinds of environments.
The discovery mirrors a scene from the popular Sci-fi movie “Jurassic Park,” where scientists used prehistoric mosquito remains to extract the DNA from extinct creatures from a time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
According to Luo Cihang, the first author of the study, “The current find is the most convincing body fossil of a platyhelminth ever found.”
As per the research repoerted by WION, the tapeworm might have hooked onto the intestines of a host during the Early Cretaceous period, known as the “Age of Dinosaurs.” This suggests that the tapeworm could potentially be carrying DNA from various dinosaurs like deinonychus, carnotaurus, or carcharodontosaurus.
The study highlights that the amber was deposited into the amber on shore, indicating its host might have been a marine dinosaur. According to one theory, the host may have been trapped on land and died, causing the tapeworm to detach itself from the host’s intestine and move out of the body and into sticky amber.
The study hints that the amber was formed on the shore, indicating a potential marine dinosaur host. One theory proposes that the host may have perished on land, causing the tapeworm to detach and become encased in sticky amber.
Alternatively another theory assumed that, the tapeworm’s marine host might have been eaten by a land-roaming dinosaur, allowing the tapeworm to escape and get trapped in the amber.
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