These 'Dune'-like worms are tiny but act more like snakes. Here's what UT researchers found
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have made major headway in understanding a strange and elusive species of snake-like worm known as amphisbaenians.
The worms are vertebrates, scaly and have a "large central tooth and sometimes small forearms," according to a news release from the university. They live underground and burrow in sand and soil — much like the gigantic sandworms in the action movie “Dune" — making them difficult to observe in their natural habitats.
Using a micro-CT scanner, researchers within the university's Jackson School of Geosciences compared 15 amphisbaenians from southern Africa by their bone structures and other anatomical features. The study, which informed two papers published in the March issue of The Anatomical Record, is the most detailed to date of the African amphisbaenians, according to the researchers.
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What did researchers discover?
UT Austin researchers used the micro-CT scans to render individual bones as large 3D-printed models, enabling them to take a closer look at bones like the tabulosphenoid, which is almost entirely inside the worms' skulls. The bone is almost impossible to see without micro-CT technology, said Christopher J. Bell, lead author on one of the papers and a professor in the Jackson School.
“You could fit three skulls of the Zygaspis quadrifrons on the nail of my pinky. We can now look at these really small vertebrate organisms in a measure of detail that we never had before,” Bell said, according to the release.
Researchers also discovered wave-like structures within the worms' skulls that grab onto each other and the worms' singular central tooth and two bottom teeth, which they use to hatch from their eggs and tear apart prey.
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Tiny worms behave more like snakes
Research on the worms began more than 15 years ago at Sam Houston State University when Patrick J. Lewis, a professor there, led a research trip to Botswana with students. While digging, Lewis and his team began catching the worms, which behaved more like snakes.
“They wriggle around and try to escape and move in ways that worms just aren’t able to," Lewis said, according to the release. "These are much more like little snakes in the way that they move and interact. It’s just surprising for something that’s so tiny. You just don’t expect that behavior."
Though the worms live all over the world, very little was known about them until recent research was conducted, according to the release. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Jackson School of Geosciences and Sam Houston State University.
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Micro-CT scans reveal secrets about these tiny 'Dune'-like worms
