Researchers find fossil of ancient Myanmar tapeworm

Researchers have recently discovered an endoparasitic tapeworm fossil from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber that is approximately 100 million years old.

The discovery was made by researchers from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in Jiangsu province, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with researchers from Yunnan University, Germany, the United Kingdom and Myanmar.

This study, published in the journal Geology, provides evidence not only of the first partial body fossil of a tapeworm, but also, arguably, the most convincing body fossil of a flatworm, thus providing new information on the early evolution of tapeworms.