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7 August 2023
LAWRENCE (KSNT) – It’s not every day that a new species is discovered, let alone from a creature that lived 500 million years ago.
A recent publication from the University of Kansas (KU) celebrates Research Associate Rhiannon LaVine who made an exciting new discovery while working alongside a team of fellow researchers in Utah and Idaho. The team was examining the Spence Shale, described by the university as a “treasure trove of fossils,” when LaVine stumbled across something extraordinary.
“One of the last times we were out there, I split open one of these pieces of rock and instantly knew it was something that wasn’t typical,” LaVine said. “The first thing we see are these radial blades that look like stars or flowers. Immediately, I showed it to (lead author) Julian Kimmig. He was perplexed. He’s said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like that.’”
LaVine took the fossil back to the university’s Biodiversity Institute where it now sits as part of the permeant paleontological collection. The fossil stirred up discussions among KU’s colleagues as to what the species was.
“I was showing it to everybody, asking, ‘What do you think this is?’” LaVine asked. “Nobody had an idea. We thought maybe it’s a wiwaxia, a very peculiar animal from about that time — but we don’t have too many representatives of it from the Spence area. Or maybe it’s a scale worm, but there’s no real scale worms known from that time.”
Partnering up with members of the University of Missouri, LaVine was able to get a better look at the fossil specimen. Eventually, LaVine and her associates found that the fossil belongs to a previously unknown species of annelid, a group consisting of around 21,000 “segmented worm” species found around the world.
LaVine, as the discoverer of the fossil and co-author of the paper describing it, was given the honor of writing up the worm’s scientific name. She landed on “Shaihuludia shuriken,” paying homage to a species of giant worms on the planet Arrakis in the novel and movie “Dune.” She added the word shuriken, a Japanese word meaning throwing star, in reference to the worm’s shape and blade-like bristles.
“I’ve been involved in describing species before, but this is the first one I’ve named,” LaVine said. “Actually, I was able to name its genus — so I can put that feather in my cap. It was the first thing that came to mind, because I’m a big ol’ nerd and at the time I was getting really excited for the ‘Dune’ movies.”
To read the paper published by LaVine and her fellow co-authors on the rare find, click here.