Image Gallery: A Worm Missing Link

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Burgess Shale Worm

Acorn worm fossil from Burgess shale

(Image credit: JB Caron)

Spartobranchus tenuis

Spartobranchus tenuis in a tube

(Image credit: JB Caron)

Spartobranchus tenuis in a tube. The worms look like modern free-living acorn worms, but resided in tubes. Modern mini-tube worms called pterobranches may have evolved from worms like this.

Acorn Worm

Acorn worm in modern form

(Image credit: C.B. Cameron)

The modern acorn worm Harrimania planktophilus. The acorn worms are about 1.2 inches (32 millimeters) long when uncoiled.

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Undescribed Acorn Worm

Acorn worm in modern form

(Image credit: C.B. Cameron)

A modern-day acorn worm about 3.5 inches (88 mm) long.

Modern Pterobranch

Pterobranch worm colony

(Image credit: C.B. Cameron)

A modern pterobranch, Rhabdopleura normani. Each of these tube-dwelling worms is only 0.02 inches (0.5 mm) long.

Modern Tubes

Tube colony of pterobranches

(Image credit: C.B. Cameron)

A modern tubular colony created by pterobranches. These tubes are similar to those seen fossilized in the Burgess shale.

Worms Illustrated

Spartobranchus tenuis in a tube

(Image credit: Marianne Collins)

A reconstruction of Spartobranchus tenuis within and outside of their tubes.

Worm in Tube

Spartobranchus tenuis in a tube

(Image credit: Marianne Collins)

A close-up of Spartobranchus tenuis in its tube.

Burgess Shale

Burgess Shale in British Columbia

(Image credit: JB Caron)

The Burgess shale in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, where the Spartobranchus tenuis fossils are found.

Burgess Shale

Burgess shale quaries

(Image credit: J. Niddrie Photo, courtesy of Parks Canada)

Burgess shale quarries on Fossil Ridge in Yoho National Park.

Burgess Fossil Quarry

Burgess Shale in British Columbia

(Image credit: J. Niddrie Photo, courtesy of Parks Canada)

A close-up of a fossil quarry in the Burgess shale in Yoho National Park.

Stephanie Pappas
Stephanie Pappas
Live Science Contributor

Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.