King Arthur’s Magical Sword Lives on as Paleontology Study Discovers Heavily-Armored 400-Million-Year-Old ‘Excalibur’ Worm Fossil

One who's familiar with King Arthur's magical sword, also known as the "Excalibur," knows that it is wielded by the purveyor of round tables, as well as Britain's protector during the fifth and sixth centuries.

Now, according to a ScienceAlert report, that magical blade lives on---in the name of an ancient worm that could "crush between two fingers."

Specifically, the prehistoric work is called "Lepidocoleus caliburnus," Measuring just a portion of an inch in length, this prehistoric sea-dwelling creepy-crawler may not achieve its Arthurian namesake's stature, although, as a new study emphasizes, it at least did look the part of a knight that's heavily armored, enclosed in overlapping calcite crystal plate running along the whole length of the body of the creature.

Together with L. shurikenus, the discovery's cousin species, named for the pointed ninja throwing star, shuriken, and described too, for the first time in this new research, L. caliburnus existed approximately 400 million years ago, During the Devonian period, in the now-called Australia.

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(Photo: Steve Partridge on Wikimedia Commons)
Worm Fossils

Possibly Lived on Coral Reefs

According to Live Science, where this report originally came out, both worms possibly "lived on coral reefs," in shallow waters that are currently part of the Australian mainland.

They possibly fed on organic waste and used armor plates to protect themselves from predators. To determine how well-shielded these creatures were, the researchers took micro-CT scans of the worm fossils to develop their armor plates' digital 3D models.

According to geological sciences assistant professor and author of the study Sarah Jacquet, from the University of Missouri, "we can virtually separate" the distinctive components of the armor through the use of micro-CT.

She added that they could manipulate the virtual models to identify how the "individual armor pieces moved relative to each other" and determine the level of overlap between them.

Overlapping Armor Systems Discovered

In their research, published in Papers in Paleontology, the study investigators discovered that the worms had a pair of overlapping armor systems that ran down the length of each skeleton of the worm and another one that covered both sides of the creatures.

Jacquet explained, the worms may have been able to curl a ball to better fend off hunters, although eventually, such impressive defense did not save them from vanishing in a major distinction occurrence.

Essentially, the forthcoming mass extinction at the end of the Devonian Period wiped out three-fourths or 75 percent of life on Earth, beginning 365 million years back.

Not lost to history anymore, the said two worms, Excalibur and Shuriken, can probably rest easier now, knowing that tales of their hazardous and daring lives are still being told approximately 400 million years after. This report said King Arthur would kill similarly.

Devonian Period

The Devonian Period took place from 416 million to 358 million years back, a separate Live Science report specified. It was the Paleozoic Era's fourth period.

This era was preceded by the Silurian Period and followed by the Carboniferous Period. It is frequently known as the "Age of Fishes," although substantial events happened as well in the evolution of plants, the first insects, as well as other animal species.

Related information about worm fossils is shown in New China TV's YouTube video below:

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Check out more news and information on Fossils in Science Times.